


Falling In Love With Christmas

by buntepunkte



Category: The 100 (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Christmas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-01
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 25
Words: 44,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27685289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/buntepunkte/pseuds/buntepunkte
Summary: A story based on a Christmas prompt, following Raven who really doesn't like Christmas and her friends, who really do. Especially Murphy.  /I have found this 25 Days of Christmas prompt on Tumblr last year. From December 1st to December 25th I'll post a new chapter every day, with each of them being dedicated to a date and a prompt. While the focus is mostly on Murphy and Raven, I really wanted to include the other characters as well and show some of their relationships too. Because we all deserve some holiday delinquent shenanigans in our lives./
Relationships: Bellamy Blake/Clarke Griffin, Eric Jackson/Nathan Miller, Jasper Jordan/Maya Vie, John Murphy/Raven Reyes, Monty Green/Harper McIntyre, Octavia Blake/Lincoln
Comments: 11
Kudos: 64





	1. December 1st - Decorating The Tree

**Author's Note:**

> If I find the promt again, I'll post it, but it got buried in my likes somewhere... I actually wanted to post this fic last year, but then I got overwhelmed and I couldn't do it. So I decided to try again this year. We'll see how this goes...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I'm not gonna say much here... At least not for this chapter. So yeah, I already added the tags for some characters that will show up in later chapters. So if they are not in this one, I'm sorry, but they will be coming.

Raven was on her way to Harper’s and Monty’s place. They were all supposed to meet there to decorate the tree. Most of them lived alone, planned to visit the family over the holidays, had a way too small place or in Raven’s case, didn’t like Christmas. However, Monty and Harper had their own place, loved Christmas and enjoyed having their friends over. So at some point they just decided to decorate their tree together. And why was Raven going if she hated Christmas? Well for one, because she loved her friends. But also because it was terribly cold and her heater broke. So instead of putting on as many sweaters as she could until she was immobilized and wrapping herself into blankets, she would just enjoy the warmth of her friends’ home. The food was just an additional reason to go.  
The woman pulled her jacket tighter and hurried up to get out of the biting cold as soon as possible. Finally reaching the apartment she knocked on the door.

“Oh guys, the Grinch is here.” Bellamy joked opening the door and stepping to the side to let her in.  
“Very funny. And I warn you, don’t you dare to get me one of those Grinch sweaters again!” Making her way over to the living room she noticed that everyone but Clarke was already there.  
As if on cue Bellamy stepped up behind her. “She got called in for work, but should be here soon, too.” Sometimes Raven seriously wondered if he could read her mind. 

“The Grinch is supposed to be green, she looks more blue to me.” Murphy looked up from the couch, where he was sitting with a plate of cookies on his lap. “What, did you walk to the North Pole first? Thought the invitation was clear.”  
“Feeling especially funny today, Murphy?” She sat down next to him, already studying the cookies while she was still talking.  
“Not sure if you knew, but I’m only here to make jokes on all of your costs and eat cookies. Check and check.” He picked up one, taking a huge bite.  
Raven looked up smiling at him. They both knew that was not entirely true. Murphy loved Christmas. He was just as excited as most of them, if not even more. Over the years it got pretty clear that even if he tried to hide it, he was just a huge Christmas dork. “Keep lying to yourself, Murphy, but you can’t fool us.”  
He picked up a cookie, but instead of taking another bite, he handed it to Raven. “No fooling or lying, I’m an honest man, living an honest life.” She took a bite while he was still holding the cookie before actually taking it.

“Okay you two, stop flirting and come help us.” Jasper walked in with a huge box labelled Christmas decoration.  
“We weren’t flirting, just having a normal conversation. But yeah, I’ll be taking this.” She quickly took the cookie plate before the man could protest. “And Murphy will go help you. Someone has to guard these defenseless tiny cookies.”  
Monty raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t say anything, just shook his head. “There is more in the kitchen, in case those cookies happen to go missing.” A smile appeared on his lips and Raven already felt much better. 

Part of the reason why she always liked to come over to their place. Here she always felt welcome and it was kinda like a second home to all of them. While she was still thinking that, Harper appeared with a cup of hot chocolate, that she was now handing Raven.  
“You look like you could need it.”  
“Harper, you are the best!” 

“Hey, why didn’t I get one?” Murphy’s protest came quickly, from across the room, where he was bending over the box picking out all kinds of decorations.  
“You already had one.” Octavia’s voice came from behind the tree.  
“Actually, he had two. My cup went missing.” Echo crossed her arms in front of her chest looking at Murphy. Out of the corner of her eye Raven caught movement and she turned her head just in time to see Jasper sneak into the kitchen with a mug in his hand, looking more than guilty. The woman chuckled and took a big sip of her own drink.  
“Wow, all of you ganging up on me, I’m honestly offended.”  
“I’m sure you will survive, Murphy.” Bellamy looked up from his phone screen.  
“You thrive on chaos.” Octavia’s head popped out from behind the tree. “Okay, the tree should be secure now. Last year’s disaster of it falling over should be avoided this year.”  
Whenever they were all in one place, it just tended to be chaotic, but last year was probably the cherry on top. They just finished decorating and were about to relax when the tree fell over, breaking most of the decoration in the process. Certainly something they didn’t want to repeat this year.  
“I think we have been finding pieces of broken Christmas balls months after.” Monty came back to the living room with another box in his hands.  
“And glitter!” Harper added with a small shudder. Raven, Murphy and Echo exchanged glances, looking a little guilty. The glitter was mostly on them. They were decorating their Christmas cards but for the three of them it quickly turned into a glitter war.  
“Yeah, you guys shouldn’t buy those ornaments filled with glitter.” Raven tried to sound very casual, dunking a cookie in her hot chocolate. In response she got some glares from both Harper and Monty but they left it without a comment.

Slowly they all picked out pieces they preferred and started hanging them on the tree. They never had an actual plan and for an outsider the tree must have looked like a big mess, but for them it was perfect, reflecting all of them. Murphy stepped up to her, dumping a pile of Christmas lights in Raven’s lap.  
“Here, you can untangle these, since you are not really doing anything.”  
“Excuse me, but I’m very busy with---” The doorbell rang and Raven jumped up with a big grin on her lips. “I’ll get it.”  
“Don’t you think this will get you out of Christmas light duty, Reyes,” he yelled after her.

Without checking who it was, she buzzed the person in, opening the door stepping out into the hall, peeking down the stairs.  
“Clarke?”  
“Yes, it’s me. One day you’re going to let in robbers or something.” The blonde shook her head but she was also smiling.  
“Well, you know me, I just love living on edge.” Raven shrugged and pulled her friend into a hug.They both walked back into the apartment and Clarke waved at them all.

“Hey, sorry for being late. Work needed me.”  
“Bellamy already filled us in, so now come and help us.” Jasper grinned and waved at her.  
“You know the tree looks crowded, why don’t you help me with this.” Raven picked up the pile of lights and handed it to her friend. “They are in mighty need of untangling.”

Murphy looked up and grinned. Raven knew that look, he was basically approving of her cunning move. She got comfortable on the couch again, watching her friends. Despite her not loving Christmas, spending time with her friends was nice. They all seemed to enjoy themselves and although Raven was the Grinch in their group, she did have fun. But that was because of her being with people she loved and not because of the holiday spirits. Harper and Monty went through the boxes of decorations, but mostly they watched their friends having fun. Bellamy and Clarke decorated their own little part of the three being almost too cute. Which Octavia and Echo gladly pointed out, almost mocking the two and laughing at their own jokes. Jasper was hanging the craziest ornaments, a collection they acquired over the years, everyone chiming in, trying to outdo each other by finding the craziest ones. And Murphy was carefully considering each piece and seemingly tried to find the perfect placement for it. 

While she was watching them all, Jasper managed to sneak up on her, sitting on the armrest next to Raven and grinning. He was up to something.  
“Jasper… what did you do?”  
“Look, I know you don’t like to participate in all of this, but…” He held up a christmas ball. It was covered in green glitter and the Grinch’s face was painted on it. “I got this extra for you. You have to hang at least one.”  
Raven’s gaze went from the ornament to Jasper, he looked really proud and happy and she had no heart to destroy that. With a small smile she took the gift. “Thanks, that’s… really sweet.”  
She looked at the ball she held in her hands and hesitated a bit before walking over to the tree and trying to find a spot for it to hang.  
“There.” Murphy walked up behind her and pointed at a branch that was yet spare of any decoration.  
“Didn’t know you had a part time job as Christmas coordinator.”  
“It’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle.” He smirked and then pointed at her hands, which were covered in the green glitter from the ornament. “Oh look, you are green after all.” They all laughed and Raven tried to rub off all the glitter from her hands on Murphy’s sweater.

They finished decorating the tree and spent the rest of the evening just talking and laughing, marveling in their work. Magically by the end of the evening there were still some cookies left - Echo had her own theory that Monty had a secret stash well hidden somewhere - and Harper packed some up for all of them, handing them out as they were leaving.

“See you all tomorrow at the same time. Jasper, you’re on pizza duty!” Octavia waved them all goodbye and gave the man a glance. “Don’t you dare forget it again!”  
“I would take her seriously, otherwise she might just eat you.” Bellamy patted Jasper’s shoulder and with her arm around Clarke both of them walked off.  
“Thanks for everything.” Raven gave Monty and Harper a quick hug. “In case I don’t freeze to death, I will see you all tomorrow.”  
“Shouldn’t your frozen heart protect you from the cold?”  
“Very funny, Murphy.” The brunette was already walking away, but she held up her middle finger, turning it into a wave, not even looking back.


	2. December 2nd - Traditions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I got kinda carried away with this one... So this is another one where they are all together, and the next one will be for sure too. As well as some other future chapters, but I plan to have some more Murphy and Raven alone time soon. I just really love them all so much and since Christmas is about friends and family, I wanted to include them too.

Raven had some errands to run which saved her from freezing in her apartment all day. The woman was already in the neighborhood but it was still a bit early to go to Monty’s and Harper’s yet, so she decided to grab a coffee before. She didn’t expect to run into Echo at the coffee shop however.

“Seems like we had the exact same thought.” Echo held up her cup, with a smirk when she spotted Raven.  
“You can never go wrong with coffee.”  
“True. So why are you here so early? Thought all things Christmas weren’t your thing. You sure made a point by being late yesterday.”  
“I wasn’t late on purpose. Besides Clarke got there after me!” Raven protested. “I like spending time with all of you, I’m just not for the whole jolly merry spirit thing.”  
Echo nodded, but her eyes rested on Raven much longer, as if she was about to say something else, but then changed her mind.  
“So what about you, keen on getting there first?”  
The other woman shook her head with a laugh. “Well okay, maybe a bit.” There was a short hesitation before she went on. “My family didn’t really celebrate Christmas and when we did, we kept it small, so we never had any Christmas traditions. When I started dating Bellamy and became part of this group… you all kinda became my family.”

It was a feeling Raven was very familiar with. She has known Jasper and Monty before, but only really became part of the group, when she got together with Finn. When they broke up, she was worried she would lose her friends, as they have known Finn longer than her, but in the end it was Finn who faded out of the group, although that probably had other reasons than their break up. When Bellamy and Echo broke up, she didn’t want Echo to feel left behind, especially since she came to like her. Fortunately the others seemed to agree, then Echo became part of their family. 

“Now that’s something I can relate to. You know… minus the Christmas part.” They both laughed, as they walked out of the coffee shop with their cups in their hands. “So, should we grab some food for everyone?”  
“I thought it was Jasper’s turn to bring the pizza?”  
“Yeah, but you know how he is. This wouldn’t be the first time he forgets.”  
“Let’s have some faith. A Christmas miracle might happen.”  
They slowly made their way over to their friends’ apartment, getting there just as Octavia arrived too. She waved when she spotted the two other women walking down the street.  
“You look especially happy today, so I assume that means your date went well?”  
“A date?” Raven raised her head at Echo’s words looking curious at Octavia. “Do tell me more!”  
Octavia pressed the doorbell and just a few seconds later they were let into the building. “It’s just this guy I met at the bar, we have been on a couple of dates since then. But I would appreciate you not mentioning it in front of Bellamy. He always seems more protective around the holidays, don’t want him to scare Lincoln off.”  
Raven made a movement as if locking her lips and throwing the keys away before looking at Echo and grinning.  
“Fine, we won’t say anything, but you have to promise to tell us more later!” Echo added.  
“Tell you more about what?” Harper asked, waiting for them at the top of the stairs.  
“I will make a group chat later and tell you everything.” Octavia threw her hands into the air and walked into the apartment not even giving her friends another look, however her friends could see she wasn’t actually mad.  
“She is so smitten.” Echo followed her into the apartment.  
Raven gave Harper a hug. “O was on a date, but doesn’t want Bellamy to know,” she whispered, quickly filling the other woman in. Now Harper was smiling too.

“Hey Monty!” Raven shouted, as she entered the apartment.  
The response came from the bedroom. “Hi Raven! Be there in a sec, just need to find something.”  
As she walked into the living room, she noticed Murphy was already there too. “Wow, I thought we were early, but it seems like you beat us. Are you secretly living here?”  
“Oh haven’t you heard? Monty and Harper are planning on adopting me. Tomorrow we will go pick a color for my room.”  
“It already feels like we adopted all of you.” Monty set down a box on the coffee table, shaking his head, but Raven could see the smile on his lips.  
“It’s not our fault you two went steady so early and just seem the most mature out of us all.” Octavia was sitting in the armchair, her feet dangling off the side. “Besides, Bellamy and Clarke are less likely to put up with all of our shit.”  
“You couldn’t be more right about that, sis.” Bellamy and Clarke just walked in, and he leaned down to put a kiss on his sister’s head. “And my big bro senses are telling me you are up to something.”  
“Oh please, you always think I’m up to something. You can’t fool me with the big bro senses anymore.”  
“Are your Spidey senses tingling too? Are you going to jump out of the window and swing away to fight crime?” Murphy shot some invisible webs and they all laughed.  
“Very funny. But I don’t think a tight suit is my look. I would however not mind a cape.”  
“What about the underwear over the pants?” Harper giggled, while she was walking back after opening the door.

“Now that’s an image I would pay to see!” Jasper’s voice came from the hallway and a second later he came into the living room - empty handed!  
“I told you we should have brought food!” Raven pointed at Jasper but looked at Echo, as if it was her fault the man showed up without the promised pizzas.  
“Don’t worry, I ordered them on my way here, they should be here soon.”  
“They better, or I might eat you.”  
“Is that a threat or a promise?”  
“Can we hold off on the murdering part?”  
“Wow Murphy, never expected you to be the voice of reason.”  
“Reason? Oh hell no, Echo. Just in case Jasper pulled my name for Secret Santa, I still want my present.”  
Jasper held his hand over his heart and fake gasped. “You wound me, I thought we were friends.”  
Murphy just shrugged, but he was smirking. 

Slowly they all settled down. Clarke and Bellamy were sitting at the counter, facing the others. Octavia got comfortable in the armchair, not showing any signs of leaving for the rest of the evening. Murphy was once again sitting on the couch, Raven was sitting next to him, before sliding down to the floor, nestling between the couch and the coffee table. Harper was sitting on the couch too, with Monty next to her, sitting on the armrest. Echo was sitting across from Raven on the other side of the coffee table. And Jasper settled on a pouf pulling it up to the coffee table too.  
“Alright, you know the drill.” Harper was handing them all some letter paper that looked way too fancy and set the box back on the table. “Writing utensils are in here.”  
“I think this year I want to go with crayola, just to add that authentic touch.” Murphy was already looking through the box.  
“Are you going to write like a five years old too?” Jasper teased and ducked when a pencil came flying at him. “Oh thanks Murph’, just the color I wanted.”

They all had their own traditions for the Christmas time with their family - well, most of them did. But since they were their own little found family too, they wanted to have their own tradition as well. A couple of Christmases ago Jasper suggested they all write a letter to Santa. It started off as a joke, but ever since that year, they came together to write another letter. It was just so silly, that even Raven was willing to participate without much protesting. Usually. They were already all deep in their own letters, the only one who wasn’t, was Clarke who disappeared into the kitchen to make them all hot chocolate. There were only two words on Raven’s paper so far. _Dear Satan…_  
Murphy leaned over her shoulder peeking at her letter. “Hey Reyes, I think you have a typo there, got the wrong dude.”  
With a grin Raven looked up at him. “Are you sure it was a mistake?”  
“Ah, gotcha.” He smirked too, returning to his own letter. Raven’s gaze rested a little longer on him, watching as he got very invested in what he was doing. Down from where she was sitting it looked like he was adding some drawings.

The woman’s thoughts got interrupted when the doorbell rang again. “That must be our pizza, I will get it!” Jasper was already on the way to the door. Raven followed him with her eyes until he became invisible to her. Instead Clarke came back, giving everyone their mug and setting down Jasper’s next to his letter.  
“Thanks, Clarke. This will definitely help with my writer’s block.”  
“Having issues with connecting with your inner child?” Surprisingly, Echo was already on the second page.  
“Maybe you just need to be kissed by the muse.”  
“Thanks, Murphy, but no thanks.”  
“Well, it was a one time offer, your loss.” He winked at her and leaned a bit closer. “But maybe it would also help if you addressed the right person. Unless your wishlist is for the actual devil.”

They heard laughter coming from the hallway, and they all turned their attention towards it.  
“Wait, who is there?” Asked Octavia, trying to peek.  
Echo leaned back, having a better view at the front door. “Looks like our pizza.” She leaned even further. “Oh, and I think Jasper is flirting with the delivery girl.”  
There was another laugh and they all got very quiet, trying to hear something. It was a few more minutes before Jasper re-joined them, walking in with a big grin and suddenly freezing mid movement as he realized all his friends were staring at him with big grins on their lips.  
“What?”  
“Who is she?”  
“Who is who?” Jasper acted like he was clueless, but the slight blush of his cheek didn’t escape their attention.  
“Oh please, do you really think you can fool us?”  
Jasper rolled his eyes, setting down the pizza boxes and slowly sitting down on the pouf again, clearly trying to avoid an answer as long as he could. Finally he let out a sigh. “Her name is Maya. She works at my favorite pizza place. She has been working on some nights when I ordered pizza and we started talking. She is pretty cool.”  
“So why don’t you ask her out?” Harper asked, saying what they were all thinking.  
“Oh no, I don’t think…”  
“What?! That she likes you? Jasper, she was laughing at your stupid jokes. I love you, but not even a big tip would be worth it to listen to your worst jokes. She totally is into you.” Octavia finished the sentence in her tone, that they all knew as the don’t-argue-with-me-voice.  
“I actually agree with her, and this doesn’t happen often.” Murphy shrugged, before diving into one of the pizza boxes, taking a slice.  
“You guys should see the way she looks at him,” Monty added. He genuinely seemed happy for his friend. “I was at Jasper’s last week when we ordered pizza.”  
“Fine, I will ask her out, now can we drop it and eat?!”

There was no protest to that and all writing utensils have been put down in favor of the pizza slices. Clarke told them that her parents finished the renovation on the cabin the Clarke’s had in the mountains and offered that the group could drive up there. They all checked their schedules and found a couple of days when all of them were free. Everyone thanked Clarke and asked her to thank her parents too. Monty and Jasper were already deep into planning some “fun” activities, with Harper shaking her head. Bellamy signed up for renting a car, or maybe even renting a van that would be big enough to fit them all. The excited chatter still continued when they returned to their letters.

Jasper actually wrote his in two colors; red and green. Echo was using a glitter gel pen. Clarke’s letter was written in beautiful handwriting with nice drawings on the side. Bellamy’s looked probably the most normal, though Raven was always surprised how nice his handwriting looked. Harper added stickers to hers and she even highlighted some words. Monty went with calligraphy this year and Clarke remarked it probably something Santa didn’t see often. Octavia wrote a long letter and when they asked if she was wishing for that much she waved dismissively and said she was actually just gossiping about them all. Murphy went full on authentic with his red crayola letter and the drawings on the side. Raven eventually corrected the satan to santa and carried on with her letter. There were some crossed out words here and there, leaving big blue messes all over the paper.  
“Looks pretty boring, Reyes. Here, let me!” He added some crayola drawings on the side of her page.  
“Hey! Quit ruining my letter!”  
“I’m just adding the seal of Murphy approval.”  
“Oh yeah?” She snatched his letter from his lap and drew devil’s horns and a tail on his Santa drawing. “Well I added my seal of approval too.”  
“Actually looks better now.”  
“Oh no, hide the glitter, before Glitter War II breaks out.” Jasper whispered referring to last year’s incident that started in a similar manner.  
Everyone put their letters into the envelopes addressing it to the North Pole. Raven and Murphy continued to add their own “seal of approval” to the envelopes, too. Even Echo joining in, leaving them with three very messy but unique envelopes.  
“Well… they do actually look like they were made by children.” Raven laughed as she looked at their ‘masterpieces’.

They got all dressed, and left the apartment to find their special mailbox. It was a mailbox like any other, but many years ago they saw a drunk guy getting almost stuck as he tried to pull out something that he probably dropped by accident. He must have had a job at the mall as Santa’s little helper, then he was dressed as an elf. They joked that it must be the mailbox that brought the letters to the North Pole, and when years later they started writing their own letters, they knew there was a perfect mailbox waiting for their letters. It was a great way to combine it with their other tradition, which neither one of them could remember how it even started. On their walk they were looking for Christmas trees, making it a challenge who could see the most. 

Arguments of who had seen a tree first often occurred but it was a lot of fun. Bellamy and Octavia were just having one of those arguments, while Clarke walked next to them, claiming each tree the siblings missed due to their fight. Jasper was running ahead to make sure he was the first to claim the trees, but ended up missing a lot. Echo was walking backwards, as she explained it gave her a whole other point of view the others missed. Unfortunately she kept bumping into the others, so Harper ended up teaming up with her, as that way they could cover more ground. Monty protested that it was not fair for them to team up, but he couldn’t actually be mad at his girlfriend seeing how much fun she was having. Murphy kept pointing out trees that weren’t there, trying to convince the others that there was a tree and Raven backed him up, even though she was well aware he was bluffing. 

“Thank god for people not respecting their own privacy or just being strangers to the concept of blinds.” Monty eventually gave up and decided to keep score, at least as best as he could among the chaos. By the time they reached the mailbox they were all claiming to have won and have the highest count. One by one everyone dropped in their letters and said their goodbyes. At least until tomorrow, then Bellamy made sure to remind them of their ugly Christmas sweater competition the next day.


	3. December 3rd - Christmas Sweaters

_> hey! what r u up to?  
>just chilling. you?  
>kinda freezing to death…  
can we hang out?  
>jeez raven, still didn’t fix the heater?!  
wanna come over?_

Not even half an hour later Raven knocking on Murphy’s door. He opened a door quite quickly, already expecting her. She stepped inside, taking off her boots and her coat, but left on the scarf for now. Murphy was already walking back to the kitchen and soon she followed too. His apartment was fully decorated for Christmas, as it has been for weeks already. Actually, she was sure he started as soon as Halloween officially ended.

“Smells good in here.”  
“I was preparing some food for tonight. And also making lunch, so hope you’re hungry.” He checked in with the stuff on the stove and then turned around to face Raven, who just climbed on one of the bar stools at the counter. “So when are you going to fix that heater? You can’t get through the winter with a broken heater.”  
Raven groaned. “I know, but this week Wick is in charge of my apartment building and I really don’t want him in my apartment.”  
“You could just fix it yourself?”  
“Nah, they made it pretty clear they don’t want me to do that last time. Even if I’m very qualified… and since I would like to keep my place, I have to abide by their rules.” She waved with her hands in a dismissive gesture. 

“Hey, can you grab some plates? Lunch is almost ready. It’s the one over-”  
“I know where it is. Not my first time here.” Raven got off the stool to deck the table for them. Murphy looked at her with a smile before picking up his phone and a few seconds later _It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas_ started to play. Murphy’s smile turned into a smirk, especially when he saw the look the woman gave him.  
“Sorry, Reyes, but you’re at my place now. Welcome to the Christmas Wonderland.”  
As much as she was a Christmas grump, he loved the holiday and after all she was a guest at his place, no matter how close they were. “Fine, you win this time, but I hope I don’t enjoy it at all and I’ll be grumpy about it.”  
“Totally fine by me.” He laughed, with his gaze lingering just a bit longer on her face, before serving lunch.

They ate and talked, while the music was quietly playing in the background. Soon Raven didn’t even notice it that much anymore. That was until they were doing the dishes and Murphy started to sing the lyrics to _Last Christmas_. Raven pretended to get an important text message and stepped aside to sneakily take a video and send it to their group chat.

_> ah murphy, finally you admit it!  
you catch my eye too <3  
>sorry jasper, but i’m sure he meant me!  
>keep dreaming, bro! santa tells me it’s not you.  
>last christmas, i gave bell my heart  
this year he gave it to murphy  
>it’s beginning to look a lot like a christmas love triangle  
>all i want for christmas is to see clarke and murphy fight over bellamy  
>run rudolph run, more like run bellamy run  
>rocking around the christmas tree more like rocking underneath the tree_

Raven couldn’t help but giggle, not even noticing Murphy stopped the dishes to check out the notifications that blew up his phone, until the dishrag hit her in the face.  
“Hey!”  
“Oh you deserved it.”  
“Still totally worth it!”  
“We’ll see about it.” They were both laughing and Raven knew he wasn’t actually mad at her. It would take a lot more to make him mad. They have been friends for years now, and while at the beginning they absolutely couldn’t stand each other, somehow over the years he became one of her closest friends. Neither of them could explain how it happened, but there was a bond between them, they understood each other in a way the others rarely did.

As it turned out, Murphy’s punishment for her was to help him decorate the gingerbread men he baked for that evening. There was some protest from Raven at first, but once they tried to make personalized ones for each of their friends she started to enjoy herself. The rest of them turned out rather silly, but they had fun doing it. She refused to make them Christmas themed, so some of them ended up wearing bikinis and sundresses. Murphy just shook his head and made a few Halloween themed ones - just for Raven. He said it was so she didn’t have to eat the Christmas-y ones.

They didn’t even realize how much time passed until the doorbell rang, signalling the arrival of their friends. Jasper was the first to arrive.  
“Look Murphy, that sweater is ugly all right, but I don’t think it’s enough for you to win the competition.”  
“Hah, very funny. I haven’t changed yet.”  
“In that case I would suggest shopping at a different store.” Murphy didn’t reply but punched the other man in the arm. Jasper turned to Raven with a grin on his lips. “Ah, thanks for that cinematic masterpiece you shared with us this afternoon.”  
“You’re very welcome. I do my best to serve the community.” She offered him one of the gingerbread men she decorated, that was wearing a blue bikini.  
“Now that’s new. Did Miss Ginger just get back from the holiday?”  
“Raven refused to go with the theme, so we have some unusual ones this year. I’m pretty sure she did some alien themed ones too, which would explain why there was no green color left.” Raven just shrugged, she could see nothing wrong with her decorating choices. “Alright you two, I’m gonna go change, make yourself comfortable.”

Jasper was just looking for the wine, when the doorbell rang again.  
“I’ll get it!” Raven was already on the intercom, conforming it was their friends. Harper, Monty and Octavia arrived together. Harper and Octavia were Christmas shopping and Monty picked them up before coming over to Murphy’s place. They were getting out of their coats, revealing the first ugly Christmas sweaters.  
“Hey Jasper, don’t you want to get out of your coat?”  
“And spoil the surprise? No way!” He barely finished the sentence when the next person arrived.  
“It’s me.” Voice came through the intercom, but before Raven pushed the button she heard another familiar voice.  
“Hold it, Echo.” With that Bellamy and Clarke arrived too, and with that the group was now fully present. Well, apart from Miller, who was visiting his grandparents over Thanksgiving and doing a mini road trip with Jackson on the way back.

Murphy was already back in the living room talking with Harper when Raven returned with the others. They all took a good luck at each other, everyone bursting out into laughter.  
Bellamy laid an arm around her shoulder. “I see you still refuse to participate?”  
“What, you thought just because you gave me that Grinch sweater last year, that I would change my mind?”  
“Can you blame me for hoping?”  
“Well, I would have thought after all these years you would know me better. I’m a little disappointed.”  
“No, you are not.” He smiled and gave her a kiss on the temple before walking over to Echo and Clarke.

Raven returned to Jasper, who finally found the wine. “Can I have a glass too?”  
“Oh sure, but I think we need to open another bottle.” He emptied the one he was currently holding in his hand. He gave Raven her and his glass to hold and got out another bottle. “I think the cork is stuck.”  
Jasper tried a little harder and as his hand slipped from the bottle, his hand hit the glass in the woman’s hand and both glasses got emptied on her shirt.  
“Ooops. My bad.”  
“Oh shit.” Raven put down the glasses on the counter and picked up a napkin, trying to dry off the wine from her shirt.  
“Come on.” Murphy was next to her just a few seconds later, leading her away. “I expect you to clean up that mess by the time I’m back Jasper!” he said before they disappeared in the bedroom. He handed her a bathroom, gesturing toward the bathroom that had access from the bedroom. “Get out of that shirt, we should be able to get out that stain.”  
Raven didn’t even question it, she went into the bathroom, quickly changing out of her shirt and putting on the robe she was given. _It smells like Murphy_ , the thought crossed her mind.  
“It’s okay if you can’t get out the stain, it wasn’t expensive and it’s not my favorite shirt anyway…”  
“No promises it will work, but still, you shouldn’t spend the rest of the evening in a wet shirt. Not the contest we are doing tonight.”  
That comment did earn a chuckle from Raven. “So, instead you make me wear your bathrobe?”  
“Absolutely not!” He was already going through his closet, finally pulling out a sweater presenting it to the brunette. It was grey, with a Christmas tree on it and the text saying _Too lit to quit_.  
“Absolutely not!” She repeated his words, looking at the sweater with a horrified expression.  
“Please?” He must have hit a button then the lights on the Christmas tree were now lighting up.  
“Don’t you have any normal clothes I could wear?”  
“And let this sweater go to waste? No way! You can wear the one I’m wearing now, if you like this one better.” He was wearing a red one, that had Santa laying in front of a fireplace naked, with only a gift covering his _jingle bells_. “Don’t worry, this one lights up too!”  
“You’re an evil man!” Raven took the first sweater from him and disappeared into the bathroom again, coming back even grumpier than before.  
“And you look great.” He chuckled, walking behind her as she joined the group again in the living room.

“It’s a Christmas miracle!” Monty called, when he saw Raven.  
“How did you manage to make her wear that?” Echo was so surprised even her jaw dropped a bit.  
“I suppose I have to thank Jasper, I couldn't have done it without that little accident.”  
“Starting to think he did it on purpose.” Raven mumbled, dropping into one of the armchairs.  
“To be fair I give you the choice.”  
“The choice between terrible and more terrible, very generous of you.”  
“I think you look good.” Harper said, but couldn’t help her little giggle.

Ugly Christmas sweater competition was another one of their silly things, that became somewhat of a tradition on it’s own. It all started with Monty’s grandmother and the sweater she gave him as an early Christmas present. It was absolutely hilarious, a picture of him in the sweater even became their joke Christmas card the next year. However the next day showed up in a sweater that some argued was even more horrible and it turned into a little argument. A year later they still couldn’t agree which sweater was worse. Clearly Octavia and Murphy had the same thought of just topping the two previous sweaters, then they both showed up in ugly Christmas sweaters to their annual gathering to write the Santa letters. That same year Monty introduced Harper to his family and so of course that year Monty’s grandma has made her a sweater too. At that point the rest of them - excluding Raven - just felt out. They agreed they all had a year to find the ugliest Christmas sweater and they would finally decide the next year who wins. With the losers wanting revenge and everyone just having too much fun, it didn’t stay a one time only thing. They even had a photo album with all of their entries. 

Murphy just got out the camera to snap pictures of this year's sweaters. He started with Echo who was wearing a black sweater, with tiny Christmas trees on both arms and two T-Rex wearing Christmas sweaters and Santa hats dancing on a light up dance floor. Then he handed her the camera to take a picture of him too. Monty and Harper decided to go with a couples outfit this year. Each one of their grey sweaters had half of a reindeer. Harper ended up with the head and the reindeer puking up candy and decoration and Monty with the butt and the reindeer farting candy and decoration. Octavia’s sweater was dark green with white snow on the arm and a giant snow globe in the middle, filled up with fake snow and a gingerbread man trapped inside and a silver tinsel outlining the globe and the bottom of the sweater. Clarke got a red sweater, with all of the body being a fireplace. As she held out her arms, there was Christmas decoration and stockings hanging from it, basically turning her arms into the mantel. Bellamy’s sweater was a light green color, the edges also outlined with silver tinsel. There were also little snowflakes sewn on it, but the most distracting part was the big stocking in the middle saying _Merry Cat-Mas_ , and a plush cat in the stocking. Finally, Jasper took off his coat revealing his choice. He basically looked like a Christmas tree. The whole sweater was a fake tree material with Christmas balls hanging from it. They all broke out into laughter, with his build up the reveal was even better,

When all the other pictures were taken, Murphy turned to Raven, who still sat there with her arms crossed. She accidentally must have pushed the button then her sweater was lighting up.  
“Come on Raven, this is a historic moment, we need a picture for the album.” He couldn’t hide his grin. “I could of course take a picture of you now, but wouldn’t you prefer to pick your own pose?”  
Raven sighed, threw her arms in the air and stood up. “Fine.” She picked up one of the gingerbread men, the Christmas-y ones and told Murphy to take the picture. Just as he did, she bit off the cookie’s head.  
“Ice cold, Reyes.” He looked at the picture that was just developing. “But also adorable.”  
He was still laughing when he laid out the pictures on the coffee table, so they could see all the choices together.  
“Time to vote for the best… or well, worst.”  
Jasper handed them all pens and a piece of paper that were thrown into one of the stockings hanging from Clarke’s sweater.

After that they counted the votes by placing green and red M&Ms under the pictures that got a vote. They all did their top threes. It was a close call, but eventually Jasper won, with Clarke being second. Murphy finished third. As they rolled the third year into this tradition they made medals for it. The gold one said _you tried_ , the silver _an attempt was made_ and the bronze one _you didn’t suck_. Each year the medal was given over from last year’s winners. Murphy handed over his gold medal to Jasper, Clarke got hers from Monty and Octavia was about to hand the bronze one to Murphy when he held up his hand.  
“I want to give mine to Raven. Even though she didn’t participate willingly, it shouldn’t be in vain.” He shrugged and watched Octavia hang the medal around the other woman’s neck. “And I hope maybe this makes her want to kill me a bit less.”

They all laughed, even Raven couldn’t stay mad much longer. It was no secret to any of her friends that she didn’t like Christmas and that she tried to be as little involved as she could without offending her friends. But now even she had to admit she had fun, and she even felt a little joy from having the medal. Not that she would admit it out loud. Everyone was chatting again and Murphy picked up the pictures, starting to place them in the album. He must have felt Raven’s eyes on him, then he turned to her.  
“So, does this mean you will join us next year?”  
“Are you planning to spill another drink on me if I say no?”  
There was a smirk spreading on his lips. “I can be evil, but even you can’t think I was planning that one.”  
“I have learned over the years that you can do a lot more than people give you credit for.”  
“So, do I have to start planning?”  
“I suppose you have to wait and see.” Raven winked.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I actually sent a friend pictures of all the sweaters and made her choose a winner without telling her which belonged to whom. Let me know if anyone wants to see them, because I definitely spent too much time on looking them up. Also I am much happier with this chapter than the other ones, plus Raven and Murphy got to spend some time alone so... *wiggles eyebrows*


	4. December 4th - First Snow Day

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know why, but I was struggling with this chapter. However I hope you still enjoy it. It got more Murphy and Raven alone time and fun with the group. So yeah, have fun and see you tomorrow. Hopefully. ;)

Raven woke up to the sound of her phone, someone was blowing it up with notification. She blinked, slowly turning to her side. It seemed she fell asleep last night while she was reading, then she didn’t even change out of the clothes she wore - including the sweater. Her shirt was still wet when she was leaving, although Murphy offered she could stay at his place instead of returning to her freezing apartment. However it explained the nightmare she had. In her dream she was chased by a big Christmas sweater and when it caught up with her, it wrapped itself around her, suffocating her. The woman was about to pick up her phone and tell Murphy she fully blamed him for it, when the window caught her glance. It was brighter outside than usually and that could mean only one thing.

Quickly she jumped out of the bed and ran over to the window. Just as she thought - it had snowed, covering the outside in a thin layer of snow. It seemed it had stopped for now, but Arkadia was getting snow rarely, so Raven just enjoyed the view for a while. Now she also understood all those notifications on her phone, with her friends probably being just as excited as she was. They were talking about meeting up at the park later. Even if there wasn’t that much snow, they would have their fun with it anyway.

_> just fyi, i blame you for my nightmare  
>oh no, what did i do? :O  
>it was actually the christmas sweater  
but i could swear it had your evil laugh  
>you mean innocent & angelic laugh?  
>suuuuuure xD  
>ok. let me make up for it. brunch?  
>that’s an offer i can’t refuse. ;)_

Raven hopped into the shower, taking just a little longer than usual, enjoying the warmth. Murphy was right, she really needed to get that heater fixed, but as she told him, having Wick in her apartment wasn’t an exciting thought. Which should have been normal for exes, although technically he wasn’t her ex, as they have only been on a couple of dates, but it never got anything too serious. Still, the way things ended wasn’t the best and she really just wanted to avoid him. She got through the cold until now, she could keep it up just a little longer. The woman got dressed in some of her warmest clothes. The Christmas sweater caught her eyes again, somehow the lights were blinking again. She folded it neatly and put it down on the bed.

_> should i bring your sweater?  
>nah, you keep it. we have photo evidence that it’s yours now ;)  
>thx, i guess…  
you never gonna let me live this down, or?  
>not anytime soon._

Clicking the button she locked her phone and looked at the sweater on the bed again. Last night was fun, despite her actually being more vocal about her dislike for the holiday than usually. With a deep sigh she picked up the sweater and put it away in her closet. She didn’t have to see it that way, but it was there as a memory of the fun she had with her friends.

Taking the bus she arrived at one of their favorite places. Murphy arrived just a few minutes later, parking his car at the other side of the road.  
“Hey, have you been here long?”  
“No, the bus just dropped me off.”  
“Let’s get inside, it’s cold out here.” He was right, the past days were very cold, but it seemed it got even chillier overnight, especially with the snow now.  
Once they sat down at their table and they ordered their drinks, she looked at him, resting her elbows on the table and putting her chin in her hand.  
“So, why the brunch?” It wasn’t weird for just the two of them to do something together, especially since he was one of her closest friends even inside of their friends group. Although for brunch they usually went in bigger groups.  
“I needed to get you out of your place before you freeze to death.” He leaned back in his chair, his eyes resting on her in a calm way. “And I felt like I owed it to you. Have been putting you through a lot of Christmas stuff yesterday.”  
“So that spill was planned, I knew it!” They both laughed at that. Raven knew there was no way he planned for Jasper to spill the wine, he just went with the situation most likely. If he wanted to, he could adapt quite well to different situations.  
“I’m not at that level of mastermind just yet. But working on it.”  
When the waitress came they ordered, probably way more than they could eat, but everything just sounded too delicious. Soon the food came and they sat there in comfortable silence, eating. 

“I have been living on way too much Christmas cookies these past few days, having a proper meal was actually amazing.” Raven walked out on the street, with Murphy following.  
“Don’t blame it on the Christmas cookies.” He laughed. “Your diet is not the healthiest outside of the holidays either.”  
“Shh! Don’t call me out like that.”  
“We still got some time until we gotta meet the others, so…?”  
“So… you want me to come up with something to do?”  
“Well, brunch was my idea, so it’s your turn now.”  
“Oh I feel like I got played.” She left out a dramatic sigh and looked around for inspiration on how to kill time. Without success. “How about we walk around until inspiration hits me?”  
“Is that Raven Reyes suggesting exercise after eating?”  
“Screw you.” She playfully punched his arm.  
“Ouch. You are so small and yet so feisty.”  
“And now you are mocking me again.”  
“I would never dare.”  
“Sounds like a lie, but sure.”

While they were walking down the street, it slowly started snowing again. Raven held out her hand, catching the snowflakes and looked up with a smile at the sky. While she truly didn’t like Christmas, she liked winter and the snow. There was something magical about everything being covered with snow. Everyone always said spring was symbolizing a new start, when everything started to bloom. But for the woman it was winter, when everything was getting a clean state. You need to make a cut before you can start blooming again.

Raven let out a little laugh, spinning around a few times, but stopped when she felt the man’s gaze on her. He was just standing there watching her with a smile - not his usual smirk or a grin, but a genuine smile. She could feel the blood rush to her cheeks and was glad she could use the cold as an excuse. Her head rushed with thoughts, thoughts she pushed aside as she didn’t want to touch them. Something she has done for months now. If she just kept ignoring things for long enough, maybe it would all just go away. Right?

Murphy cleared his throat, pushing his hands in his pockets. “Well, I suppose we could just walk around for a while. It seems you’re enjoying it.”  
“I love Arkadia, but it’s just not snowing enough here! You just need to enjoy a rare moment like this.”  
There was no protest coming from him, so they continued to walk down the street, their feet taking them to the park. Although they were the first to get there, the others started to arrive too, soon. Monty and Jasper even brought a slide, although no one was sure if there was enough snow for that, it didn’t stop them from trying. Raven and Echo were the first to fall back in the snow to make snow angels. Octavia started to throw snowballs at everyone she could hit without a clear target or even strategy, although it didn’t really matter, then they soon all got involved. Harper collected all the snow balls that were thrown her way, starting to build a snowman. It was small, but she seemed to have a lot of fun, then Echo joined her soon. Jasper even managed to pull out a carrot from one of his pockets. Everyone was having fun, for a while there they seemed and felt like children again.

Jasper just dumped a pile of snow on Raven’s head, which caused her to chase him, however she slipped. Both Bellamy and Murphy were standing close by, seeing her fall and reaching to catch her, however it was Murphy who was standing closer. His arm curled around her body, with the other catching her arms, pulling her up.  
“Did you fall for me, Reyes?” A husky chuckle escaped his lips.  
The woman hesitated for a few seconds and was about to answer - with probably something snarky -, when Octavia came rushing from the left, knocking both of them over, landing on the ground next to them too. As it turned out she was chased by Bellamy for interrupting a kiss between him and Clarke by throwing a snowball at both of their faces. Those who were still standing were pulled down by the others and they were soon all laying on the ground, laughing and watching the snowfall.


	5. December 5th - Christmas Movies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter definitely was flowing more easily than the previous one (although I am about to face two difficult ones). I'm not sure how I feel about certain parts of it, but overall I like it. I made the group smaller this time, it just made more sense. So, with all of that said... enjoy. :)

Raven decided to have a lazy day, she stayed in bed late and even once she got up, she made herself coffee and got settled on the couch with a blanket. It was cozy and exactly what she needed after the past few days. Just a little time dedicated herself and doing exactly nothing. Although she knew she definitely needed to dedicate some time to packing for the weekend. Clarke texted them earlier, saying that it has been snowing up in the mountains too and they picked the perfect weekend for their snow trip. While she was very excited about it, she only had two days left and out of experience she knew, it was for the best not leaving packing her luggage for the last minute. It was already a chaotic enough activity without having to rush it too. So the woman started to prepare a list in her mind, that she knew she would forget later anyway. At least this way she could feel a bit better about spending half the day lazy.

_> did you start packing?  
>damn murphy! do you have cameras installed at my place?  
>don’t tempt me  
nah i just now you by now  
>well, i was about to start fyi  
>good luck. i’ll text you in an hour  
just checking your suitcase didn’t eat you  
>my knight in shining armor._

It was incredible, how well he knew her sometimes, scarily accurately predicting what she would do or say. Even with years of being friends, she was still baffled by it sometimes. However, now that she was kinda called out, she had no choice but to get up and start packing. It was just for the weekend, so she didn’t have to pack that much, meaning she should be able to be done in no time. Expect that some stuff she just couldn’t pack yet as she would still need them the next two days. Raven decided to write a list of the things she still needed to pack on a post-it and place it on the suitcase, so she absolutely wouldn’t forget. She just left the bedroom looking for post-its when the doorbell rang, since she wasn’t expecting anyone it took her by surprise.

“When you said you would check in, I thought you meant sending a text message, maybe call, but I didn’t expect a personal visit,” she said as she opened the door.  
“I have no idea what you’re talking about, but I come bearing gifts.” Jasper held up a bag that smelled a lot like Chinese food.  
“I thought you were Murphy, sorry. Come in.” Stepping aside she let the man in.  
“Oh come on! I’m way more handsome than him.” Jasper walked over to the kitchen, putting the food on the counter and looking for plates.  
Raven walked over too, leaning on the kitchen. “So what do I owe this visit?”  
“I could come up with an elaborate lie of how I wanted to see my very good friend and just eat and talk, but you’d see right through that, or? Here is the truth, I really just wanted to avoid packing. Which doesn’t mean I didn’t want to spend time with you.”  
“It must be your lucky day, then I really didn’t mind getting distracted.”  
“Cool. Chinese and binge watching it is then.”

They got on the couch and were still looking through the catalogue trying to pick something to watch when Jasper’s phone rang. Raven could make out Octavia’s voice on the other end of the line.  
“Hey, would you mind if O comes over too?”  
“No, but tell her to bring ice cream!”  
“Done deal!”  
Jasper just hung up, when the doorbell rang again. The two of them looked at each other confused, as there was no way it could have been Octavia already.  
“This day is just full of surprises…” Raven mumbled, already getting up to open the door.  
“Oh look, she is alive.”  
“Murphy? What are you doing here?”  
“You didn’t reply to my messages or calls and while I was joking about your suitcase eating you, I just had to check. Never say never, right.”  
“Oh, I must have left my phone in my bedroom.”  
“Hey Murphy. Are you joining us too?” Jasper yelled over from the couch waving.  
Murphy raised an eyebrow, shifting his gaze from Jasper back to Raven.  
“We were gonna watch something and eat Chinese. O is coming over too.” She let the man in and closed the door. “It all kind of just happened. And since you’re here, you have to join too.”  
“Absolutely! I brought too many egg rolls anyway.”  
“Who am I to say no to egg rolls.”

Somewhat over twenty minutes passed by and they still haven’t found anything to watch, when once again the doorbell rang.  
“Well, at least this time I actually expect someone.” Raven opened the door to greet their friend. “And she still manages to surprise.”  
“I brought Echo, hope it’s okay.”  
“We’re already more people than I expected when this day started, so sure. Come in.”  
“We got the ice cream too.”  
“So now we just need to decide what to watch.”  
“A Christmas movie?”  
“Well, if you want to upset Raven.”  
“There is only one Christmas movie I’ll be watching willingly and it’s Die Hard.” Raven brought back spoons for everyone so that they could all dig into the ice cream. Fortunately Octavia and Echo brought more than just one, so there was enough for all of them.  
“If we watch Christmas movies, we have to watch Home Alone.” The couch was getting pretty crowded, but Murphy scooched over to make space for her.  
“Die Hard isn’t even a Christmas movie.”  
“Oh yes, it is!”

They argued for a while, before they settled on starting with Die Hard. It was a strategic movie, then everyone was hoping if they watch Raven’s pick first, she would go along with watching the rest of the movies with them. After the movie another short argument started, until one of them suggested they should just write their choices on a piece of paper and pull one randomly. That way it would be fair. So all of their choices ended up in a box. Murphy wrote Home Alone, of course. Echo’s choice was Nightmare Before Christmas and she was ready to argue about it with anyone. Octavia picked Santa Clause and Jasper Miracle on 34th Street. They let Raven draw one of the movies.  
“Looks like Echo won this round,” she announced the winner.

“Now I absolutely miss Halloween.” A sigh left Raven lips as the end credits started to roll.  
“It was actually a good pick to ease you into more Christmas spirit.”  
“Oh my god, I can’t believe I missed the chance to write Grinch!” Jasper yelled from the end of the couch. “Petition to allow me to change my choice.”  
“You mean we can totally make Raven watch Grinch? I’m down for this.”  
“Veto!”  
“Nah, I like this idea.”  
“I’m still calling veto.”  
“And you’re still alone with that.”  
Jasper took the box from the coffee table and looked through the papers finding his and replacing it with the new one. He handed the box back to Raven with a big grin on his lips.  
“I hate you.”  
“You don’t. You love me, because I’m impossible to hate.”  
“Now don’t get carried away, Jasper.”  
“Pick another one, Raven.” Echo and Octavia were sharing a blanket, with Echo looking at her, while Octavia tried to fight off Jasper, who tried to get under the blanket too,  
The woman stuck a hand in the box and pulled out another piece of paper. She balled it up and threw it at Jasper. “You won.”

Raven got up from the couch to walk over to the closet by the front door.  
“Hey, you don’t have to leave just because I won.”  
“I’m not leaving.” She opened the closet door and took out another blanket, dropping it into Jasper’s lap as she returned to the group.  
“Oh, thanks.”  
“Hey, what about me?” Murphy’s protest came quickly.  
“I don’t have more blankets, but you can share with me.” She got back into her spot, offering him one side of the blanket that she was wrapped into until now.  
They started the movie, but not even halfway through Octavia was complaining that she was hungry. Murphy offered to cook, earning a sarcastic laugh from Raven, explaining there wasn’t much in the fridge that he could work with. They settled on ordering food, but because everyone wanted something different, they ordered from three different places.

It was getting dark outside, but they barely noticed, they were having too much time and no one wanted to leave now, with only two more movies left on the list. So they ate dinner together and got more cozier after. The next movie was Home Alone. Somehow, all these years Raven managed to avoid seeing it - just like most of the Christmas movies.  
Halfway through the movie Raven leaned over, whispering. “I can see why you like this movie so much. I can totally imagine young Murphy being like Kevin.”  
Murphy didn’t reply, but he chuckled.  
Although she wouldn’t have admitted it out loud, she actually liked the movie. It seemed like after all there was a Christmas movie that might sway her. Yeah, definitely not something she wanted to admit out loud.

They have spent most of the day on that couch by the time they started the last movie. Although she wasn’t doing much that day, by now she was getting tired. Without even realizing she rested her head on Murphy’s shoulder, which didn’t seem to bother him much, then he laid an arm around her, resting his head against hers. Getting cozy like this was new for both of them, but neither one of them seemed to be bothered or feel awkward about it. For a while they were sitting there like that, when Murphy moved, getting into a more laying position. Raven was about to move away, when he pulled her back, so she shifted a bit too, before resting her head on his shoulder again. At some point she must have fallen asleep, then when she opened her eyes again, the TV was black. Murphy was still there, still serving as her pillow, kinda. However she could not hear the others, so she peeked over and realized they were in fact gone. With the street lights illuminating her living room, she could make out a post-it note on her coffee table, but couldn’t read the actual message. It must have been from Jasper, Echo and Octavia.

She was about to wake up Murphy telling him they dozed off, when she realized how peaceful he looked while sleeping. The woman just didn’t have the heart to wake him up. Besides she was still very tired and just the thought of moving was exhausting. After a short and sleepy consideration, she decided to go back to sleep too. Now that it was quiet in the apartment she realized she could hear Murphy’s heartbeat and it was the sound she fell asleep listening to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so in earlier seasons of Friends, before they ever became love interests, Monica and Chandler often just cuddled when they were hanging out at their places. And I always thought it was sweet, that they just did that and it was no big deal and as I said it was way before anything happened between them, like season 1/season 2, I think. So yeah, that was just something I thought of when writing this chapter.


	6. December 6th - Nice or Naughty

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I fell asleep last night, hours before posting the chapter, fortunately I woke up just in time to post it... And then fell back asleep. I'm just glad I didn't miss a day. But enjoy the chapter and see you at the end. ;)

It took Raven a couple seconds to realize the situation after waking up. Her friends came over yesterday and they were watching movies and eating take-out. Despite their choices of movies, she had a lot of fun. Then she fell asleep and the others left, but Murphy…  
“You’re finally awake, good. My arm is kinda going numb.”He still hasn't left. Raven sat up, rubbing her eyes.  
“Why didn’t you wake me up?”  
“Never tickle a sleeping dragon.”  
“Did you just…”  
“... compare you to a dragon?”  
“... make a Harry Potter reference?” They both spoke at the same time and then laughed.  
“Knew there was a reason why you’re my best friend, Reyes.”  
“I’m your best friend?” Raven asked with playful surprise.  
“As if you didn’t already know!” Murphy scoffed.  
“Yeah, but it never hurts to hear it.”  
Murphy got up from the couch, stretching and Raven noticed her gaze was lingering longer than it should have.  
“Breakfast?” he asked looking at her.  
“I already told you there is not much in the fridge.”  
“Surely you have the ingredients we need for pancakes?”  
“Pancakes? Damn, I should let you sleep on my couch more often.”  
“Just imagine what you would get if you let me sleep in your bed.”  
Raven inhaled sharply, causing her to choke and cough. Murphy was just smirking and walked over to the kitchen. Raven blushed and turned her head away, instead she picked up the note Jasper, Echo and Octavia left last night.

_Had fun, thx. Sorry we bailed.  
You looked too cute & we didn't want to wake you.  
J. & O. & E.  
P.S.: Call me tomorrow._

The woman picked up her phone, there were already a couple of missed calls and a few text messages from Echo. Without opening them she put the phone back down and walked over to the kitchen, where Murphy was already going through all the cupboards and drawers looking for the stuff he would need for the pancakes. The thoughts seeked into her mind, without her control. He looked so good standing there in the kitchen, with the morning light coming in through the window. It was a sight she could certainly get used to. A thought she quickly shook away again. He was her best friend and nothing more.  
“Are you just gonna stand there admiring me or you gonna help me?”  
“Excuse you? Maybe I was admiring those pancakes in the making.”  
“Keep lying to yourself, Reyes.”

They finished the pancakes together, although Raven was mainly just pretending to help, while the man did all the work. Considering she wasn’t the best cook and would literally manage to burn down the kitchen while cooking pasta, it was for the best. It was something Murphy couldn’t understand, she was a genius and he has seen her solving issues he couldn’t even imagine where to start with. Yet she couldn’t cook. To which Raven always replied “I can’t be perfect at everything”.  
When the pancakes were done they sat down and ate them. Even if she felt a bit awkward for literally falling asleep on him and waking up in his arms that morning, he acted so casual, that it just seemed normal.  
“So, any plans for the rest of the day?”  
“Well, I was thinking of maybe a horror marathon, to get all those Christmas movies out of my head.”  
“Very funny.”  
“Who says I’m kidding?” Although he didn’t reply to that question, he gave her one of his knowing looks. The one that said I know you better than to fall for this. 

“Thanks for the pancakes.” Raven said, when an hour later they were standing at the door.  
“Anytime.” He waved her goodbye and walked down the hallway. The woman watched until he disappeared around the corner and then closed the door. Thousands of thoughts crossed her mind and she pushed them away. Especially since she knew she could no longer avoid texting back Echo and for sure she didn’t need those stupid thoughts swirling around in her head when she was talking to the other woman.

_> RAVEN I SWEAR 2 GOD ANSWER YOUR PHONE!  
>sorry. i’m here now  
>about. damn. time.  
so spill the beans  
>there is nothing to spill.  
>oh sure. who are you kidding? me or yourself?  
>i’m not kidding anyone.  
i have said this plenty of times before  
murphy & i are just friends  
>can’t wait for the day when you realize that’s a lie  
and i’ll be there saying i told you so  
>fine. if i am wrong, you can tell me you told me so  
for all eternity  
>deal!_

Raven sighed and put her phone back down. When they were first introduced to each other, she hated Murphy, but over the years he grew on her. And it would be a lie to say that the thought never crossed her mind before. That she hasn’t been at least a little bit jealous when she saw him with his now ex-girlfriend, but at some point she managed to convince herself it was normal and that it was actually just her being worried about him getting hurt. Those types of thoughts still crossed her mind every now and then, like on days like this, but she always managed to shake them off. There was another sound of notification and for a second she thought Echo wanted to continue the conversation but it was instead the group chat.

The weekend trip is starting tomorrow and they still needed to clear a few details. Although Bellamy managed to rent a minivan, they decided it would be still smarter to take at least two cars. Murphy signed up to drive too. Miller texted too, him and Jackson are close and they would be able to make it there for the weekend too, which meant that the group would finally be fully reunited. Jasper called it a Christmas Miracle, but Monty said lately he called everything a Christmas miracle, to which Jasper just said that Christmas was a magical time. After they picked a time and date where they would meet and decide who would drive with whom, the chat went rather quiet again. That was until Jasper sent them a link to an app.

_> it’s that time boys & girls  
let’s see if you have been nice or naughty this year  
Santa knows all your secrets ;)  
btw i got 83%_

It was quiet for a bit, but then Octavia was the first to reply.

_> we all know that’s a lie  
damn i got 69% …  
i dare you to make a joke about it!  
>but O it’s no fun when you’re expecting them  
i will keep them for the weekend  
>i got 91%. harper is upset bc she only got 76%  
>there is no way you’re nicer than me by 15%  
>i got 66%  
>hang another 6 on that, clarke ;)  
>O, what did I tell you about being nice  
>hold on, i’m looking for an eye rolling gif  
quit lecturing me and tell us your result  
>54%  
>hah, you just made the cut!  
looks like next year you need to be nicer to your sis  
>okay, no way. this is bullshit.  
>someone seems to be unhappy with their result.  
don’t be shy, tell us what you got, Murphy  
>you would be too, Echo!  
as i said, this is bullshit. no way i only got 2%  
>dunno, sounds pretty accurate to me!  
>very funny, reyes. how about you drop us your number?  
>actually nevermind my previous comment  
Murphy was right, this is bullshit.  
>so Echo is unhappy with her number to.  
>is it 1%?  
>no. 20%  
no, i mean 65%  
> hey! it’s not fair to take it again!  
you stick with what you get!  
>guys, i sent it Maya too & she got 58%.  
i told her my score and she has been laughing for a good five minutes  
>damn i already like her.  
wait, i am sending this lincoln!  
>miller and i just did it too, he got 85% and i got 68%  
i don’t think he will quit bragging about this for the rest of the year.  
>raven, we’re still waiting on your results.  
>guys, lincoln doesn’t want to tell me what he got  
he seems to believe i wouldn’t go on another date  
the only way i would cancel is if he gets 100%  
oh wait… it’s 12%. we’re good. I’m seeing him tonight.  
but yeah, drop the numbers Raven  
>fine.  
my results say 88%  
>no way! there is absolutely no way you get the second highest result after monty  
>still pissed about the 2%, murph?  
>i just now you better than to believe the 88%  
>for a second time i have to agree with murphy_

For the rest of the afternoon they kept arguing about their results and Echo kept retaking the test, hoping she would get a higher score than Monty. They all knew those numbers meant nothing of course, but it was still fun. At the end they decided that it’s more likely they would end up on the naughty list anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was more text message based, but it was fun to write and I hope it's also fun to read. Also I know with "nice or naughty" I could have gone plenty of ways, and I was thinking about a lot of ways to do this, but then one evening this idea popped into my head and I really liked it.


	7. December 7th - Candy Cane

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today's prompt is Candy Cane and I'll admit, it wasn't the easiest chapter to come up with. Maybe it's just me, but I found it challenging to focus the chapter on candy canes... So, it's maybe not as present as the topic of the other chapters, but it was also a good opportunity to set up the weekend for the other chapters. So the upcoming... I think three chapters will definitely be more prompt focused. Although I do have to admit, I actually like this chapter, hope you will enjoy reading it too.

“Shit.” Raven bolted up in her bed, reaching for her phone and realizing with dread that she was right. She overslept and now she was going to be late. Without hesitation she jumped out of bed and walked over to the bathroom, quickly brushing her teeth and gathering everything she would need for the weekend to throw it in the suitcase. Then she got her phone and clothes, jumping around the apartment, trying to get dressed while also calling Murphy.  
“Hey, it’s me. I overslept. I’ll be on my way in a second, just don’t drive without me.”  
There was a chuckle on the other end of the line. “It’s okay. We decided to do some grocery shopping for the weekend, so you still got some time. See you soon, Reyes.”

Raven threw her phone on the bed and got into her sweater, although she already felt very hot due to running around in the apartment, but she checked the weather last night and it was significantly colder up in the mountains. After considering it for a few seconds, she decided to put on extra socks, before pushing her feet into her boots. When she was done, the woman felt like a toddler waddling around. Well, at least she had the comfort of knowing she wouldn’t freeze to death. She looked around in the suitcase, checking for one last time if she packed everything before she zipped it up.  
“Okay I got this.”

Just before she left the apartment, she called a cab, deciding it was her best bet getting there the fastest. While Murphy said she still had time and they would wait for her, she didn’t want to be the one who kept everyone waiting. It took her less than twenty minutes to get to the parking lot of the supermarket where they set up their meeting spot. She could easily spot Echo, Miller and Murphy. The latter was leaning against his car, looking at something on his phone. He was wearing a knitted sweater and a leather jacket with his usual boots and when he saw Raven approach he couldn’t help but to laugh.  
“Care to explain the outfit?”  
“We’ll see who will be the one laughing when we get to the cabin.”  
“Oh, I’ll still be laughing, believe me.”  
“Just get it out of your system.” The woman rolled her eyes and decided to look at her other friends instead, fully ignoring the chuckle coming from Murphy. “Please tell me you are not the ones left behind to wait for me.”  
“No, the others are inside.” Echo pointed at the building behind them. “Still shopping, we just decided to wait outside instead.”  
“Too many cooks spoil the broth.” Murphy reached for her suitcase opening the trunk of his car. “I suppose you will be driving with me?”  
“Yeah, but I’m calling shotgun!”  
“Not fair!”  
“Didn’t know you wanted to drive with me too, Echo.”  
“What, you thought I wanted to drive with Bellamy? No thanks. I figure your car is the party ride.”  
“What about me and Jackson?”  
“Well, can I ride shotgun?”  
“No, but neither can you in Murphy’s car.”  
“True, true. I suppose I just have to weigh my options.”

Murphy sneaked up behind Raven leaning closer, so only she could hear him.  
“So what, you couldn’t fall asleep without me and that’s why you were up so late, resulting in oversleeping?”  
The brunette turned around, nudging his arm. “Don’t flatter yourself. I was sleeping like a baby.”  
“Can you blame me for trying?”  
Even if she wanted to, Raven couldn’t reply as the others arrived with three full shopping carts. It seemed like Octavia and Jasper were arguing about something but that was nothing new at all.  
“Oh look, Sleeping Beauty arrived too.”  
“Haha, funny, Monty.”  
Monty pulled her into a hug, before she turned to Jackson and hugged him too.  
“It’s good to see you.”  
“Is that Raven Reyes admitting she missed me?”  
“A rare occasion, so cherish it.” 

They started to get everything organized, in the end deciding it was probably the best to just put all the groceries in the van, as it offered the most space. Bellamy, Clarke, Monty and Harper decided to ride in the van. Jasper didn’t want to third wheel the couples so he signed up going with Jackson and Miller. So did Octavia, after explaining while she loved her stupid brother, she wasn’t keen on being stuck with him in a car for hours. That left Echo and Raven to go with Murphy. A choice they were happy with. Everyone was about to get into the cars, when Jasper walked over to her, giving her a package of candy canes.  
“Murphy asked me to pick this up for you. Thought you would need the snack for the ride.”  
“Thanks, Jasper.”  
As she got into the car, she leaned over to give Murphy a hug.  
“Ah, I see you got the candy canes.”  
“You know, I don’t get it.” Echo’s voice came from the backseat. “You hate Christmas, yet your favorite candy is the most Christmas-y candy to ever exist.”  
“Even I can’t be perfect.” The woman shrugged and opened the package taking one out, before offering it to Murphy and Echo too. He declined, but Echo took one.

They weren’t even out of Arkadia yet, when Raven was already hot, taking off her coat and scarf. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Murphy smirking, but he didn’t say anything. The brunette enjoyed her candy cane, looking out of the window. It has been a while since she was on a road trip and while the group often did something together, it was nice to have a change of scenery as well. They have been driving in silence for a while before Echo spoke up first.  
“Wanna play the license plate game?”  
“How about the license plate game and road trip bingo?”  
“Deal!” Echo looked around in her backpack and handed Raven a piece of paper and a pen. “Murphy, you playing too?”  
“Sure, Raven, can you keep score for me?” He gestured at the wheel, showing that he couldn’t exactly write and Raven nodded. “But no cheating!”

They have been on the road for over an hour, when Raven got all excited.  
“Don’t tell me you have a bingo.” Echo sighed, throwing her arms in the air.  
“No, I just can’t believe I forgot.” While she was talking she pulled her phone out of the backpocket of her jeans, connecting it. “I prepared a road trip playlist!”  
“Hey, I have strict rules about the music in my car.”  
“Yeah, yeah.” She waved with her hand, dismissing him. “You’ll love it, I promise.”  
“Why do I feel like that’s a complete lie?” Echo interrupted with a grin.  
“Because you know Raven would totally throw the weirdest songs on the playlist, like-” He couldn’t finish the sentence, because _I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by The Proclaimers_ started playing. “... this song.”  
Raven was already singing the lyrics and as much as she didn’t want to, the song was just too catchy and Echo started singing with her too. They were driving on the highway and Jackson’s car just pulled up next to them, although the trio didn’t seem to notice, having their own little car party.,

Raven was already on her forth candy cane and Murphy just made a remark about how it wasn’t exactly healthy when the next song started to play.  
“Wait, is that-” Echo’s voice mirrored the confusion that was on her face.  
“ _Last Christmas_.” Murphy said and both of them looked at Raven.  
“What? Research shows this is one of the most hated Christmas songs, and if I get to annoy you with your silly holiday, I’m not gonna pass on the chance.”  
There was an almost evil smirk on her lips, but soon it turned out her plan backfired, when both Murphy and Echo were loudly singing the lyrics.  
“Damn it.” She mumbled.

Soon they stopped at a gas station, to fill up the cars and also for a small break. There were still a couple hours left of the ride, but the temperatures were already cooler here. The girls left Murphy at the car and went into the shop, looking for drink and snacks. Octavia came up next to them.  
“Next time I’m driving with Murphy, it seemed like you were having a lot of fun.”  
“Hey, O! I heard that!” Miller walked up to them too. “It’s not like our car is boring.”  
“We can borrow you Raven's playlist, if you want?”  
“No we can’t! We don’t want to become the boring car.” She laughed looking at Miller, who was about to say something. “But we can send you the link.”  
Echo said she would go get the drinks and Raven went to find everyone’s favorite food. She got a can of Pringles and some cookies too. The two of them met up at the counter again, laying down their finds for the cashier.  
“Even more candy cane, Raven? I think you are going on a sugar high.”  
“It’s for the weekend. I don’t want to run out of stock up in the mountains.”  
They were walking back to the car and Raven was lost in her thoughts. She didn’t even realize she was singing until Murphy called her out.  
“Did I just hear you singing _Last Christmas_?”  
“This was such a bad plan… But the song is so catchy!”

It was already dark when they arrived at the cabin. Everyone helped to carry in their luggage and groceries. Bellamy, Miller and Jasper volunteered to get the fireplace heated up, while Clarke and Harper offered to prepare dinner for everyone.  
“But keep Raven away from the kitchen!” Murphy called. “Actually put her on the fire squad, she is great at burning things.”  
He earned himself a death glare from the brunette but she actually joined the three men, while Murphy walked into the kitchen. Meanwhile Echo and Octavia disappeared, assigning rooms to everyone and exploring the cabin. They returned just in time for dinner, with a pile of board games in their arms. That sealed their plans for the evening. After they ate, they moved over to the fireplace, sitting around the coffee table playing all kinds of games until late in the night.


	8. December 8th - Sleigh Ride

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god, I can't believe I have been keeping up with this for over a week now. I'm honestly amazed... Also I really want to thank everyone who is reading this fanfic and for all of your support. While of course I enjoy writing these prompts and just see my ship warming up to each other... It also makes me really happy, that you all seem to enjoy reading it too. So at this point I really just wanted to thank everyone. And have fun with today's chapter!

Unlike the day before, Raven woke up early. For a while she was just laying in bed, listening to any noises, but all she could hear was the creaking of the house and the snoring from the room across the hall. Finally she decided to get up, but as soon as she got out from under the covers the cold hit her. She pulled out a sweater from her suitcase and wrapped her blanket around her shoulders. Quietly she opened the door and walked downstairs to the kitchen. It was still too early and she didn’t know why she was even up, and that’s exactly why she didn’t want to wake up anyone else.

There was still some wood left from last night, which she was grateful for now, since it was already cold enough inside, she didn’t even want to imagine the temperature outside and was more than happy not to have to go out there. The woman started a small fire and then walked over to the kitchen to make herself a cup of coffee. The coffee cooked slowly, filling the kitchen with the scent of it. The first sip of the first coffee of the day was always the best. She walked back to the living room, holding the warm mug in both of her hands and she sat down in front of the window. Raven sat there sipping her coffee just looking out the window, thinking how peaceful it was up here. While she liked Arkadia, she couldn’t deny it was nice to get away for a while from the city and just relax.

It started snowing as she was sitting there and a small happy smile formed on her lips. The woman must have been lost in her thoughts because she didn’t hear the approaching steps.  
“You look happy.” Murphy stood at the other end of the living room, yawning and stretching. “Why are you even up.”  
“Jeez, you scared me!” She almost spilled the last of her coffee. “I don’t know. I just woke up and didn’t attempt to fall back asleep.”  
“Do you want another cup?” With his head he nodded at her mug.  
“Oh yeah, thanks.” She held out her mug and Murphy took it disappearing in the kitchen.  
His room was next to hers, so the thought that she might have woken up crossed her mind, but if that would have been the case he would have came down earlier, right?

“Here you go.” He handed her back her mug and then sat down across from her. “Looks like it’s going to be a nice day for all those winter activities we’ve planned. With all this snow we can build actual snowmen and not just those tiny versions Harper did in the park the other day.”  
“With all the snow we can build a whole snow village.” Raven chuckled at the thought, but knowing her friends it could easily become a reality. “The Griffins are lucky to have a cabin like this. Don’t you wish you could have your own hideout far away from the city where you could just escape whenever things get too much?”  
“Who says I don’t?”  
Raven tore her gaze from the window and looked at Murphy in disbelief. “You have a cabin.”  
“It was my dad’s. I haven’t been there since… I was a kid.” He sighed. “Actually no, I have been there once since then, but other than that I don’t go there.”  
The woman could imagine well enough why he didn’t want to go up there and suddenly she regretted bringing up the whole situation, even if she didn’t do it on purpose. She laid one of her hands on Murphy’s squeezing gently in a comforting manner. He smiled at her, but this time it was a sad smile, and then turned his attention back to the window. They were sitting there for a while, both of them in their thoughts until all the attention escaped.

“So what are the plans for today?” The brunette asked.  
“I think Bellamy, Monty and Echo wanted to go skiing today and see who else wanted to join them.”  
“Actually I have a surprise for you all.” Clarke’s voice came from the hallway even before they could see her.  
“You do?” They both asked in unison and Clarke lifted an eyebrow at them.  
“Yes, but it’s a surprise, so I’m not telling you more.” She looked at the living room, it wasn’t chaotic, but it definitely bore the memories of last night with some of the games still on the coffee table with the pieces of papers they kept their scores on.

After Clarke, everyone slowly started to wake up and join them, with the first ones already being awake starting to make breakfast for everyone. Even with so many people, they definitely bought more than enough food for the two days they would spend here. Clarke reassured them it was okay, everything that was left over and they didn’t want to bring back home they could just leave there, as her parents would come up the next weekend too. Murphy put Raven on chopping duty, thinking she couldn’t go wrong by cutting up the vegetables. It was tempting to show him how wrong he could be, but eventually Raven decided against it and did it properly. Harper was in charge of the eggs, Murphy got stuck with pancakes after Raven mentioned how good they were the other day - and the look Octavia, Echo and Jasper exchanged didn’t escape her, but she chose to ignore it - and Clarke was just all over the kitchen helping out with everything. Meanwhile Jackson and Monty decked the table and Miller prepared coffee and tea for everyone.

Jasper was the last to walk into the kitchen, his hair a mess, his eyes still half closed and yawning. “I heard Clarke has a surprise for us.”  
“You just got out of bed, how did you already hear?” Clarke asked and there was a tone of genuine surprise in her voice.  
“Nothing escapes me.” The man just shrugged and rubbed his eyes.

After breakfast, Clarke still refused to tell them what the surprise was, but she told them all to dress warm. Of course she was first to get ready, then with lack of information the others didn’t know exactly what they should dress for, but they followed the only instruction they got, warm. The blonde was filling the leftover tea from breakfast in thermos cups and was preparing new ones, handing them out, before looking at the watch on her wrist and happily walking outside, waving for the others to follow her. Bellamy who was last in line made sure to lock up.

Raven could tell Echo was about to ask why they were standing out in the freezing cold, when Clarke excitedly pointed at something.ten pairs of curious eyes followed where she was pointing. Two horses were pulling a sleigh and an old man winked at them. Now Raven understood why they had to dress warm. Although probably up here every activity outside demanded a warm outfit.

“We’re going on a sleigh ride? I've wanted to go on one since I was a small girl.” Harper looked genuinely happy, although the others seemed just as excited. Raven ended up sitting between Echo and Murphy and they were all sharing a big blanket that was provided for them. It stopped snowing for a while but ten minutes into their ride it was slowly falling again. It was truly like a winter wonderland, like a scenery out of a fairy tale. They weren’t even one hour into the ride when it started to get really cold despite their best efforts and they all scooched closer together. It helped, but Raven could still feel the cold, her teeth chattering.  
“Here.” Murphy held up the thermos. “Drink some warm tea. It would totally ruin the mood if you froze to death.”  
“Thanks for the compassion.” Raven mumbled, but she didn’t deny the cup and took a few big sips.  
Apparently she wasn’t the only one getting cold. Both Bellamy and Monty laid their arm around Clarke and Harper respectively. Jackson and Miller were already cuddled up pretty much since the beginning. Raven could hear Octavia sighing as she wished Lincoln was here, to which Jasper replied he wished too. Despite not meeting Lincoln before, Octavia’s description was enough for him to determine he would be good to warm him up now. When the woman reminded him of Maya he said while he really liked her, she was a tiny woman and in this situation he needed a big muscly man. They ended up trying to warm up each other. Murphy laid his arm around Raven, which she didn’t even notice until Echo scooched up closer, cuddling into Raven too.  
She looked at Murphy, her big brown eyes mirroring some confusing.  
“Don’t get your hopes up. As I said, I really don’t want you to get cold.”  
Unusual for her, but she decided against arguing with him and instead she cuddled up closer, pulling Echo with her too. The rest of the ride was much better and they all seemed to enjoy themselves. Despite the biting cold it was totally worth it, something they all agreed about when they got back to the cabin and were sitting at the dining table enjoying lunch. It also didn’t hold them back from going back outside after they got warmed up enough.

Bellamy, Monty and Echo did go skiing, with Jackson and Clarke joining them. The rest of them decided they would rather go sledding and start a snowball fight. Overall the day was successful for all of them. Just like the night before they ended up in front of the fireplace with the board games, wine and a lot of chatter. During the whole game of Monopoly Raven could have sworn she could feel Murphy’s gaze on her, but whenever she peeked to check, he was looking somewhere else and not at all at her. Was she just imagining it? She didn’t get the chance to ask as Echo accused Jasper of cheating and Octavia flipped over the board exclaiming it was a stupid game, as she ended up in jail for the sixth time that game. Soon after that they all decided to go to bed.

Murphy and Raven were the last to walk up the stairs and for a couple of moments she thought he was going to say something, but instead he just kissed her temple and wished her a good night disappearing in his own room. It wasn’t even weird behavior for him, but still she felt like something was different. She laid in bed wide awake thinking about it until two in the morning.


	9. December 9th - Snowman

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn I really thought I wouldn't make this one on time, but here we are and I did. I hope you enjoy this chapter, it has some parts I really like and I can't wait for tomorrow's chapter. But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Please enjoy this one. :)

The next day everyone slept longer. Maybe it was the activities of the day before, maybe it was the fresh air up in the mountains or maybe simply the fact that it was a Sunday. During breakfast everyone was chatting and planning the day, seeing who was up for which activities.  
“So what do you say, should we start that snowman village?” Murphy, who was sitting next to Raven, leaned over to take the butter that was on the woman’s other side. His scent hit her, and to her own annoyance she could feel the blood rush into her cheeks.  
“Wha- oh. Erm.. sure. Sounds like a plan.”  
“I mean, we don’t have to if you don’t want to. After yesterday I just thought that maybe you would like to.”  
“No, no! I really want to, I was just momentarily distracted.” Silently she prayed he wouldn’t ask why and instead turned to Echo. “Do you want to join us?”  
“Building snowmen? Could be fun. I bet Jasper wouldn’t want to miss it either.” She shouted to the man who was sitting at the other end of the table and just as Echo predicted, he really didn’t want to miss out. Monty quickly signed up too. So did Miller and Clarke. Jackson, Bellamy, Octavia and Harper decided to go skiing first, but promised to join them later too.

After breakfast everyone helped to clean up and then disappeared to get dressed for the day. The cabin had a huge garden that came with the property and of course like everything else up here, it was covered in snow too. Everyone who decided to stay to build the snowmen went out there and started rolling snow for the bodies. While at first it might looked like they were organized, it soon proved to be false. Jasper slipped and fell on the three big balls he, Echo and Harper spent the last twenty minutes rolling up. Everyone was laughing, but Echo, who looked like she was about to bury Jasper in all the snow. Murphy and Miller were both rolling their snowballs, crossing each other’s paths and yelling at each other to stop stealing the snow. Raven was busy adding features to the other snowmen, whenever their creators weren’t looking. Monty, although he did start his own snowman, ended up just helping everyone, so while most of the snowmen were almost done, his was still only at the beginning stages. At one point Clarke disappeared in the house and they wondered if she just gave up, when she returned with a box, full of old clothes - mostly hats and scarfs, but there were some other pieces too.  
“Thought we could dress them up a bit.” The blonde said with a grin, throwing a scarf around her snowman’s neck.

Murphy looked at them, picking out a few pieces and he had that expression on his face, that Raven knew, meant he had an idea.  
“What is it?”  
He looked at her and then at everyone else. “How about we make all of ourselves as snowmen. Could be fun to have our snow copies.”  
They all agreed it would be fun and so after finishing the ones they already started, all the chaos started all over again. Monty suggested instead of everyone doing themselves, they would do each other’s snowman. It was both practical, but also promised to turn out to be very entertaining.  
Ravens stared at Echo for a good five minutes, working on her snow copy, when she felt Murphy’s gaze on herself and turned her head to face him. Apparently he was doing the same she was just doing, then it seemed he was assigned snowman-Raven.  
“You better make her the best snow version!”  
“Don’t worry, she is in good hands.” He winked at her, returning to his work.  
The brunette rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. She walked over to the box with the clothes and found a hat that looked a lot like the one Echo was wearing. It was perfect, then this way she could get around doing most of the hair, saving her a lot of time.  
“I see you cheating, Raven!”  
“It’s not cheating, it’s practical thinking.” She grinned and without hesitation placed the hat on snow-Echo.

Soon her gloves were both soaked through and it seemed she wasn’t the only one with the issue. They decided to go inside and warm themselves up by the fire, which they kept going since the morning, to warm up the place a bit more. They decided it was a good time to start making lunch, as the others would probably soon return to and be hungry. Everyone got a task assigned and when the others returned, they weren’t spared either. At times the kitchen was full, but everyone was in good spirits. At one point Raven started summing Last Christmas again and the song soon got stuck in all of their heads. Monty and Jasper started to sing random songs, hoping it would help and they threw Raven out of the kitchen before she could infest them again with Last Christmas. With a cup of tea she sat down at the fireplace, not minding being thrown out of the kitchen at all. Barely any time passed when Echo came joining her.

“So…” She looked at the other woman, as if she was expecting something.  
“So…?” Raven asked unsure if maybe she forgot something.  
“Don’t play stupid.” She threw her arms in the air and sighed. “I gave you enough time to come and talk to me, and I feel I have been patient enough. The other night?”  
Oh, she still wanted to hear about what happened at their movie night - which was nothing. Which she already told her.  
“There is nothing left to say, Echo.”  
“Yeah, you know I don’t believe that. Sure, maybe nothing happened that night, other than you and Murphy falling asleep basically cuddling, which is sure normal. But you can’t deny there is something between the two of you.”  
“Sure and that something is called a friendship. He is my best friend.” She wasn’t sure why those two words sounded so sad, almost disappointed. Murphy was her best friend and she was very grateful for him and their friendship. However it seemed Echo picked up on the tone of her voice too.  
“You know that’s not how it has to be. Raven, you can’t be serious you don’t see it.”  
“Don’t see what?” Clarke was approaching them, with a cup of tea in each hand and handing one to Echo, who took it with a smile.  
“Thanks. I was just telling Raven that she and Murphy would make a cute couple.”  
“So just the same old, what we all have been telling them for almost the past ten years.”  
“Okay, now that’s not true. He and I both had our fair share of relationships and I seriously hope all of you didn’t wait for us to break up with our partners just so we could get together.”  
“Of course not, at the end of the day we all just want you two to be happy.” Clarke sat down on the couch pulling up her knees. “But the thought of you two has crossed all of our minds at one point.”  
“It’s the looks they give each other.” Echo said nodding.  
“It’s those secret smiles they share.” Clarke said, also nodding.  
“The two of you are basically already dating, just without the benefits.”  
“Echo!” Raven exclaimed.  
“What, it’s true.”  
Clarke was thinking about it for a few seconds. “Well, Echo has a point.”

“I’m sorry to interrupt ladies, but lunch is ready.” It was Murphy, who saved her from continuing the conversation. Ironically.  
Echo looked at him amused, before turning to Raven with a big grin. Clarke was just surprised as she didn’t hear him approach, which was almost impossible in this house. And Raven looked horrified at the thought he might have heard what they were talking about, but at the same time she was sure they would have a good laugh if she told him.  
After lunch they took a break playing cards for a couple rounds, before returning to the snowmen. Everyone helped make the remaining people from the group and when all the snowselves were done, they decided to take a group photo with them and the snowmen. And also one with only the snowmen.  
“Ah yes, I think we have a winner for next year’s Christmas card.”

They stayed outside a little longer, making snow angels, a few more snowmen and just generally enjoying the snow and a winter they couldn’t have in the city. Either the snow didn’t stay and just melted away soon or it got dirty pretty fast so that no one really wanted to play in it. If they were already up here, they would enjoy it to the fullest.  
The fun was interrupted when Jackson’s phone rang. He walked away from the group and took the call, just to return a couple minutes later looking rather disappointed.  
“What’s up Jax?” Miller asked the question that was on all of their tongues.  
“We have to drive back tonight, I have to work tomorrow.”  
“Actually, I forgot I have to finish a report, would you mind if I come with you, too?” Echo asked.  
“Sure, if you want to, you can ride with us.”  
“If you’re driving anyway, can I join too? Lincoln has the day off tomorrow and this way I can spend it with him.”

The four of them agreed to stay for dinner and drive home after it. They stayed outside for a bit longer, but the mood wasn’t the same after it. Echo, Octavia, Jackson and Miller soon went inside to finish up packing before dinner. Although they would all see each other again in a couple of days, goodbye was still rather sad. It was just the fact that they wouldn’t stay all until the end, but adult life eventually had to reach them even up here. The group that evening got significantly smaller, but the games were just as loud as the nights before and their laughter filled the house.


	10. December 10th - Snowed In

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter... I have been waiting for this chapter forever. I think this one was one of the firsts I had an idea for after reading the prompts. Also the thing I wanted to mention for the past days... you might noticed the days don't match up with our calendar and that's because I wanted these past chapters to take place on a weekend, so I just decided to swing it instead of going with our actual year. Just in case anyone was wondering, I wanted to clear that up. And now... enjoy the chapter! ;)

Raven was woken up by someone nudging her shoulder gently. She pulled up her covers and turned to the other side hoping it would go away, but there was just another nudge followed by a soft voice.  
“Come on Raven, it’s time to wake up.” It was Murphy trying to get her to wake up.  
“I don’t want to.”  
“Unfortunately, you still have to.” He opened the curtains, letting the light in. “Don’t make me pull the covers off.”  
Raven sighed and threw her arms in the air sitting up in bed. “You are cruel.”  
“Ouch, you wound me.” He chuckled and looked around in the room, obviously for the first time. “Raven, you haven’t packed yet?”  
“No… well, I wanted to last night, but then we had so much fun and when I came back to my room I just fell asleep…”  
“Alright, let’s get you coffee and then I can help you pack. How did you even manage to unpack so much in just two days?”  
“That’s what we call a talent.”

When they walked downstairs Clarke was on a phone with someone, while Bellamy leaned against the counter looking at her worried. The others were at the breakfast table just finishing up.  
“What’s up?” Murphy asked, pointing at the blonde with his thumb.  
“I’m not sure.” He shrugged. “I think she is talking to our landlord, but I couldn’t figure out much yet. Just then she hung up and walked over to them.  
“Looks like we have water damage in our apartment. Our landlord said something about the whole building being affected, I’m not sure… We need to get there as fast as we can. But…” She looked around. While the others might have already packed their suitcases, they still needed to sort through the food and see what they needed to bring back and what they could leave here and clean the kitchen. “We can’t just leave everything here like this.”  
Bellamy pulled her into a hug, trying to calm her down.  
“How about you guys drive back with the van, I can stay here with Raven, take care of the kitchen. Raven hasn’t packed yet anyway.  
“Yeah, just leave the keys with us and we’ll take care of it. Then you guys can worry about getting home fast.”  
“Are you guys sure?”  
“I wouldn’t have offered if I wasn’t.”

Just ten minutes later Clarke gave them the keys and she, Bellamy, Monty, Harper and Jasper were off with the van, driving off back to Arkadia. The latter ones offered to stay too, but Murphy reassured them it was okay and maybe they could help Bellamy and Clarke back home in any way.  
“So, breakfast?” Murphy asked when they went back into the house after waving the others goodbye.  
“You promised me coffee!”  
“And coffee you shall get.

They were in no rush, so they took their time with breakfast. After that Raven went back upstairs, taking care of her suitcase and Murphy sorted through all the food they had left, starting with the fridge. Raven was done first although when she rejoined Murphy in the kitchen, he didn’t have much left to do either.  
“Should we go check all the windows and doors?”  
“Let’s take everything to the car first and then we can make a quick round through the house.”  
The woman nodded and took her suitcase and one of the bags sitting on the counter. Murphy took the other two and picked up his suitcase, which stood in the living room. They opened the door and a big surprise was waiting for them. Although the car stood in front of the house, they couldn’t even see that far. They were caught by a snow blizzard.  
“I don’t think we are going anywhere.” Raven said, already backing back into the house.  
“I guess we have to wait this one out. Sorry, but looks like you’re stuck with me for a couple more hours.”  
“Oh no! What a punishment!” Raven chuckled and put her suitcase and the bag back down. “Any ideas what to do to kill time?”  
“Plenty.” Murphy grinned and earned himself an eye roll from Raven.  
“I regret asking.”  
“I should have my loud speaker in my bag, if you want to listen to some music?”

They listened to music and played a couple rounds of cards, just trying to kill the time until the blizzard was over. Both of them threw glances at the window, but didn’t actively keep an eye on it, as there was just no point to it. A blizzard lasts for at least three hours, there was no point in hoping for anything under that time. After their latest round of cards they both got up to walk to the window, but quickly realized they couldn’t see much. Instead they walked over to the door. Murph opened it and some snow fell inside. It was already a bad sign. The porch was almost fully covered in snow, and they could only see the top of Murphy’s car.  
“I have good news and bad news. Which one do you want first?”  
“The bad?”  
“Well, it really works better if you ask for the good first.”  
Raven laughed and shrugged. “Fine, then the good first.”  
“Good news is, the blizzard stopped.” There was still snow falling, but it was very light now.  
“And the bad?”  
“It looks like we are not going anywhere.”  
Raven poked her head out and probably came to the same conclusion as she groaned turning back to the living room.  
“Don’t be too happy about being stuck with me.” Murphy said, while he closed the door again. There was no point of staring at it any longer, that wouldn’t change the situation either. He then picked up his phone to send Clarke a text message. There was no signal, but he sent it anyway and placed his phone by the window, hoping that it would send sooner or later. Meanwhile Raven disappeared in the kitchen and returned with a bottle of wine and two glasses.  
“Since we’re not going anywhere, we might as well…”

They took their time with the first glass, just talking about pretty much everything. The second and third glasses went down faster. Soon the music was blasting and they were both dancing. Raven was still laughing when she fell and landed on the couch.  
“Okay, maybe this is a sign that we should eat something before we drink more.”  
They ended up skipping lunch, then it was already starting to get dark outside.  
“Good thing we brought so much food. Let’s see what we can find.” He held out a hand to Raven to help her up from the couch and they walked over the kitchen, where Raven hopped on the counter, sitting there and watching Murphy.  
“So you don’t plan on helping me?”  
“Aren’t you afraid I would burn the kitchen?”  
“I see you don’t forget.”  
“Never!” She refused to do anything other than watching and taste testing, however Murphy managed just fine without her help.

When dinner was done, Murphy held up both plates and looked at Raven. “Do we relocate to the diner table or are you liking the countertop?”  
“Actually, I have a better idea.” She took one of the plates and walked over to the couch. There was an old TV and some VHS tapes. “May I suggest Hercules?”  
“How can I say no to that?”  
The movie started and Raven and Murphy sat down with their plates eating and paying attention to the singing muses.  
“Just like always, it was delicious. Thanks.” Raven said with a smile, putting down her plate.  
There was a notification sound and Murphy looked at his phone resting by the window.  
“Looks like my message went through after all.” He was already standing to walk over and read the message. “It’s Clarke, she writes that she called the locals, they will be able to free us tomorrow afternoon. They’re clearing the roads too.”  
“That means another night up here.”  
“Pretty much. More wine?”  
“More wine.”

Since they were staying anyway, they decided to make a fire warming themselves up more, especially since the night promised to be chilly. Raven found the crackling of the fire and the smell very relaxing. She picked up her glass and sat down on the ground next by the fire. Murphy carried both plates back to the kitchen and then joined here. The movie was still running in the background but they both stopped paying attention to it.  
“I feel like Echo will have a blast with this.”  
“Hm?” Murphy looked at her with curiosity in his eyes slightly tilting his head.  
“Oh, nevermind. She just said something last night. It’s not important.”  
“Are you sure? You know you can talk to me about everything.”  
“I know. But believe me, it’s… nothing.”

She turned her gaze from the fire to look at him. It seemed a whole eternity of them just looking at each other blending out the whole world around them - she could get so easily lost in his eyes. Raven wasn’t sure what it was, the wine, the whole day of being stuck at this place with the remotely romantic setting, the conversation from last night, the way he looked at her or anything else, looking back at it she couldn’t even say which one of them initiated it, but they were both leaning in until the gap between them closed and their lips touched. His lips were soft, brushing against hers, almost like a butterfly’s wings fluttering, but it soon turned more greedy and harder. His hand disappeared in her hair and her arms wrapped around his neck. Everything felt so right, like two pieces fitting perfectly together.


	11. December 11th - How Are You Not Freezing

The kiss played in her head over and over again even more than anything else that happened after it. Last night Raven was up late thinking about it and now she was wide awake. Actually she barely slept at all. Murphy was already awake, she could hear him move around in the room next to hers. However he didn’t try to see if she was awake and he didn’t try to wake her up either. Raven knew it wasn’t because he was mad or he was avoiding her, it was because he wanted to give her space, do it at her term, her pace. He didn’t need to say it, she just knew and she was grateful for that. However she didn’t know at all what to say. She wasn’t even sure how she felt. Not the kiss, because that was amazing. But he was her best friend, what if the kiss fucked up everything between them. If there was no turning back.

She was the one who pulled back and basically ran away last night, saying she couldn’t do this. Whatever this was. Murphy called after her, the way he said her name had so much plead in it, but she had to get away from him, then at that moment she just couldn’t think clearly, not while he was looking at her like that. It wasn’t enough that she was entirely confused, but she felt guilty too. How was she going to face him? Tears filled her eyes as she turned to her side pulling her knees up. Raven knew she couldn’t hide in this bedroom forever, especially not since they had to drive home together too. Hours alone in the car. There was a part of her that was very excited about it and another part of her that was terrified and she couldn’t decide which one was louder. 

Eventually she knew she had to get up and with a sigh she rolled out of bed. She bit her lips as she opened the door, looking left and right almost as she was sneaking around. _This is so stupid_ , she thought and took a deep breath closing her eyes for a few seconds. Somewhat calmer she walked downstairs and found Murphy in the kitchen. He smiled at her and Raven’s heart skipped a beat.   
“I wasn’t sure if you would be hungry, but considering our wine consumption last night… I figured you could use something to eat.” He pointed at the plate sitting on the counter. The woman’s stomach growled. Until now she was too busy with her thoughts to realize just how hungry she was.   
“Thanks.” She was already taking a huge bite of the toast.  
“Coffee?”  
“Would I ever say no?”  
“True.”  
He looked like he was ready to live any minute, already dressed while Raven was still wearing the clothes she wore to bed. Which was a top and short pants this time. He handed her a mug and then took another one for himself leaning against the counter. It seemed like this was the first time he actually looked at her.  
“Raven! HOW ARE YOU NOT FREEZING?! I mean sure we heated over the weekend, but this place is still cold.”  
She looked down on herself and then just shrugged. “I suppose after my heater has been broken for a while I just got used to it?”

She didn’t want to admit that it was more likely that she was just distracted by everything and couldn’t care if she was cold or not as it seemed that was the least of her issues. He seemed to act normal around her, it wasn’t awkward, but there was a tension that usually just wasn’t there. Sunken in her thoughts she was picking on her toast, considering if she should speak up, when Murphy broke the silence.  
“Clarke called earlier. She thanked us again for staying and said she talked to the people in town, they are making progress and should be here in a couple hours to get us out. She also said she was sorry, but it’s not like she had any control over the weather. Although that would be very impressive.”  
“I don’t think we should give her that much power. She can be already bossy enough, imagine she could throw lightning bolts á la Zeus at you.” They both laughed at the image.  
“I should probably get dressed. Thanks for breakfast.”   
“No problem.”

If she would have looked back, she would have seen that he was staring at her until she disappeared from his vision. But she didn’t. Just as much, as she couldn’t see the pain in her eyes. Raven knew they could very easily solve this by just talking about it, but she was afraid talking about it would change everything. Talking about it could lead to her losing the most important person in her life. What if he thought it was a mistake? What if he didn’t think so? At this point she wasn’t even sure what she wanted and she couldn’t put this all on him until she couldn’t figure it out. Yet was it fair to exclude him from the decision. Her head was hurting from all of those thoughts rushing through her mind and she wasn’t even able to form a clear thought.

The woman got dressed and threw her sleeping clothes in her suitcase with all of the other stuff she was still using yesterday. Then she walked downstairs again.  
“So what do we do for the next couple hours?” He was waiting for her leaning against the door frame leading to the kitchen.   
Raven felt the blood rush to her head, last time they didn’t know what to do they ended up kissing. She was already confused enough, she really didn’t need to add more to that mess.  
“We could try to at least clear a path to the car? Maybe we could already get everything inside then.”  
“I think I saw a shovel at the back of the house. The backdoor is sheltered, so we should be good.”

It was a beautiful clear day without even a cloud in the sky. At least they didn’t have to worry the weather would keep them up there again. Murphy started to shovel the snow, meanwhile Raven went through the house checking every room again and making sure the fire in the fireplace was out. Then she went outside. The man has actually made quite a nice progress, with one side of the car being free already. Or at least a little path around it.   
“I could start up the car, just let the heat run for a bit, so we don’t have to freeze later?”  
“Told you, you shouldn’t have worn a leather jacket.”  
“I’m not wearing one right now, we were still in the city! I’m starting to think you’re an alien.”  
“Oh please, I just know how to dress smart. Besides as I said, _the cold never bothered me anyway_.”  
“Oh, _let it go!_ ”

Just for a few seconds she was able to forget why she was so worried, but it soon came back crashing on her. She needed something that would keep her distracted, this was just not the right time to think about it.  
“Want to help me? There should be something in the car to scratch down the ice from the windows.”  
“Sure.” He handed her the key and she climbed inside looking at the driver’s side on the door.  
They were still working on freeing the car when they saw the lights first. Rescue was there. The people from the town were very nice, they have known the Griffins for years, they always came up here in the summer and the winter. And as they put it, anything for the friends of the Griffins. The two men brought them to the highway from where the path was clear. Murphy and Raven both thanked them and waved goodbye.  
“That was a fun weekend.” Murphy said, driving away from the town. “We should do it again.”  
“Next time without a blizzard please.”  
Murphy looked at her and for a few seconds it looked like he was about to say something but then he changed his mind.

They were already an hour on the way when Raven started to yawn more and more.  
“You know you can sleep if you want to.”  
“No, that would be shitty of me. You’re already driving the whole way and have no other company than me, I can’t just sleep.”  
“Sure, because seeing you torture yourself makes me feel so much better.”  
“I’m not torturing myself. I can sleep tonight.”  
“Fine. Then wanna play I Spy?”

They had to stop one time and Raven got coffee for both of them. Murphy just chuckled when he saw the cups but thanked her. They kept playing until they reached Arkadia. He drove her home and they hugged goodbye.  
“Talk to you tomorrow?”  
Raven nodded and waved. For the rest of the days she ignored her phone and climbed directly into bed, alone with her thoughts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There is no notes at the beginning today, but at the end... I have to work late tomorrow and I have had some technical issues since yesterday so I couldn't prepare a chapter. So, the chapter tomorrow will be posted later than usual, or I might even end up posting two chapters on Sunday. I honestly can't say at this point. Things got just a bit crazy in real life (apart from the technical issues), but I'm not abandoning. I just wanted to give everyone a little heads up. Thanks again for sticking with this story.


	12. December 12th - Christmas Cookies

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I ended up not being able to post yesterday as things literally got just a lot. But here is yesterday's chapter now and see you guys later for today's actual chapter. Hope you enjoy this one and I'm really sorry I had to break my posting schedule, but there was literally no way around it for me. Hope you all are safe tho and enjoy the holiday season as much as possible! :)

After thinking about it for a while, Raven finally decided to call Echo and asked if they could talk. The other woman didn’t ask about the extra day she got to spend alone with Murphy on the phone, for which Raven was very grateful. Even though she knew she couldn’t avoid talking about it much longer, then it was literally the reason why she called in the first place. Echo told her, she had to bake some Christmas cookies, but she could come over. Which meant Raven would have to help, but right now she really didn’t mind. At least it was something that would keep her busy and hopefully hold her back from spiraling.

An hour later - it took unnecessarily long to get ready, as she changed her mind about this whole thing at least ten times - she was knocking on Echo’s door. The apartment already smelled like a Christmas bakery. It was rather unusual for Echo, not because she was a bad cook or anything, but usually she had better things to do than to spend her time in the kitchen for that long.  
“It’s for work. Don’t even ask.”   
Apparently her look already had said it all. The brunette walked over the sink to wash her hands and then rolled her sleeves up. “So what can I do?”  
Echo looked at her suspicious only for a few seconds, knowing she usually liked to stay out of everything Christmas and her offering help willingly was rare if it had to do with Christmas, but she also knew she couldn’t afford to turn down help.   
“The gingerbread cookies are next, could you use those cookie cutters and just put them to the side for now.”

Raven came to the conclusion that either Echo lost a bet and now had to bake for the entire office or she was chasing a promotion and very likely hoped to use the cookies as bribes. They have worked for a while, talking about casual things, before Echo finally put everything down and turned to face Raven. The way she looked at her, Raven knew there was no way she could push this out any longer.  
“So what’s up? I assume you called me because you want to talk about something, yet you have been pretty quiet since you got here. Spill.”  
Raven took a deep breath but avoided her friend’s gaze. “It’s Murphy… we kissed.” Her voice turned into a whisper on that last word. Even without looking she could feel the excitement radiating from Echo, yet she kept quiet, hoping if she didn’t say anything, Raven would carry on. “We were snowed in and we were alone and it was all… It just happened. Can something feel right and wrong at the same time? Because it does.”  
Echo was unusually quiet for a while, really thinking about what to say and Raven felt nervous the whole time.  
“Do you want to unwrap it? I mean I can see while it would feel right - as it should, if I might add my totally biased own opinion -, but why wrong? And don’t bring that he is your best friend bullshit.”  
“It’s not bullshit. He is and I don’t want to screw up what we have built up over all these years. But like… I’m not sure what happened. We were all alone and you put all those thoughts in my head and we had fun and it was kind of a romantic setting and we also had a lot of wine and it just happened and I’m not even sure who initiated it to begin with and it’s just a mess.” The words came flowing out of her, despite her dreading this topic, she was also glad to have it off her chest.   
“Okay…”  
“No, it’s not okay. What if… what if it all just happened because of circumstances, because of all the wine we had been drinking and neither one of us has had a clear mind. What if it wouldn’t have happened otherwise. What if he regrets it and that’s why he didn’t push to talk about it?” After speaking the words out loud it became clear to her what she was so afraid of.  
“Raven-”  
“No, no! I thought he just respected my boundaries and wanted to give me time and not push me, because he knew eventually I would come and talk to him when I was ready. But what if I was wrong. What if he just didn't do it because he wants to forget it all and pretend that kiss never even happened. I ran away so fast not even listening to what he wanted to say…”

“Raven, calm down. Sit down.” Echo led her to the chair at the small dining table in her kitchen and sat the woman down, handing her a glass of water before sitting down across from her. “So the two of you haven’t talked yet, I figured that much. And I assume you came to me, not only because you wanted to tell me, but because you want to hear my thoughts on it and probably get advice, so let me talk.”  
She had a point there, so Raven took a few sips from the water and nodded. If she didn’t let Echo talk, she would just keep going like this and that would lead absolutely nowhere. She needed someone else’s view on the situation and despite how Echo felt about it, she knew she would be honest with her, even if it would hurt her.  
“First things first, you know how I feel about the two of you, but I promise all I have to say will be objective. So I would appreciate it if you would actually listen to me and not dismiss what I have to say.” She paused and Raven assumed she wanted a confirmation, so she nodded and Echo carried on. “Good, let’s start with that kiss. I wasn’t there, so I can’t say with absolute certainty, but I don’t think the kiss happened because of the wine. I think that kiss was bound to happen sooner or later. The wine might have helped loosen you up, but it was not the reason. I have said this over and over again, but it is true, the way Murphy looks at you… It’s different from the way he looks at anyone else. It’s not the look you give your best friend. You’re worried about this ruining your friendship, but what if all the years, all the build up was supposed to lead to this? You can still be friends, in fact, being friends can be really positive for your relationship. If you decide that’s what you want to.”

Deep down Raven knew Echo would say something like this. Maybe that’s why she wanted to come to her, because this is what she wanted to hear. Maybe it’s just because Echo seemed to be the most invested with this whole thing between her and Murphy… whatever it was that was between them.   
“Now you just have to figure out what you want and talk to Murphy. You can’t avoid it forever and the sooner you do it the better it will be. At this point there is no turning back, the kiss made that pretty impossible, so you have to move forward.”  
“You’re right… I’m just not sure.”  
“Unfortunately it’s not something I can really help with. But I can give you my advice. Raven, you’re a genius and as much as I adore your brain, I think you would benefit from turning it off and letting your heart take over control this time.”  
Those words rang in her ears long after. They finished the cookies and Echo even gave her some to take home. 

“Thanks, Echo. Not just for the cookies, but listening and all…”  
“You’re welcome. And thanks for the help with the cookies. Baking is really not for me.”   
“Can I ask you one last favor?”  
“Depends what it is.” Echo was smirking but Raven knew she could count on her friend.  
“Can you keep all of this to yourself. For now. I want to clear things with Murphy first…”  
“Absolutely. Your secret is safe for me.”  
Raven hugged her, dragging out the hug just a little longer before she got on the way to go home. Usually she would have taken the bus, but instead she decided to walk, hoping to clear her mind a bit and win some clarity. Although her thoughts were still running wild, she pulled her phone out to send Murphy a text.

_> hey, can we meet tomorrow?  
>sure._

Her heart was beating as it was ready to jump out of her chest, there was no turning back, she just set herself a time limit and had to make up her mind until tomorrow.


	13. December 13th - Sick

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was kinda worried I wouldn't be able to finish this one in time either since I had to write the other chapter, too. But to be honest, this one was actually basically writing itself. I might have had shed a few tears here and there writing it... but yeah. So here is to another one.

_> hey raven. sorry but i have to cancel  
>oh. everything ok?  
>yeah, just got sick  
it’s a day in bed for me  
rain check? i’m sorry for cancelling  
>don’t worry, get well soon!  
>thx._

Was this a sign that this was a bad idea? Raven shook her head, that was silly, she never believed in such things, why should she start now? She herself was in control over her life and it was up to her what she was going to do. With a deep sigh she fell back into bed. In no way was she going to blame Murphy, but she was already a nervous wreck and having to push it out even longer was not helping in any way. Whatever happened, Raven always liked to know things. To have confirmation. Being insecure about things and left in the unknown annoyed her. And then it hit her, it didn’t have to be that way. 

She got dressed and drove half across the city to one of their favorite places, where she ordered chicken soup to go and then got on the bus again. She only stopped when she stood in front of Murphy’s apartment door. His neighbor, a sweet old lady, let her inside. Ruth has been living there long before Murphy even moved in and she knew Raven well enough. They sometimes helped her out with her groceries or other things that she needed help with. The brunette felt like her heart was in her throat, but raised her hand to knock on the door. There was no movement inside and no answer, but the sound of a new notification on her phone.

_> come in. you have your key._

Raven didn’t even ask how he knew it was her, but glanced up, just to check if he put up surveillance cameras - which she honestly wouldn’t put past him. She got out her keychain and opened the door. Murphy gave her a key just in case something happened. They lived close enough to each other so it just seemed like the most logical thing. He had a key to her place too. Just like he said, he was laying in bed, then the couch was empty. Raven took off her coat and shoes and made a stop at the kitchen to pick up a spoon before moving over to the bedroom.  
“So, did you develop psychic abilities, or what?” She gave him the spoon and the soup, he indeed looked sickish.  
“Nah, and I feel like I’m repeating myself here, but I know you well enough after all those years.” He gestured for her to sit down and she sat at the end of the bed. “Although psychic abilities could be cool too. But probably too much burden.”

Murphy didn’t need any begging from her to eat the soup, as he was already unpacking it. Raven sat there quietly just watching him for a while.  
“What’s up, Reyes? Since you’re here anyway, what did you want to talk about? Or am I just too charming to stay away from?” Despite being sick, his smug grin was still on his lips.  
“You know I told you, you should have dressed warmer this weekend.”  
“That’s what you wanted to talk about?”  
“No, but I’m not passing on the chance to tell you, _I told you so_.”  
“Okay, that’s fair.”

There was another round of silence between them, with Raven looking at her hands fidgeting with her hoodie and Murphy patiently waiting for her. Just like Echo he knew not to push her as she would speak at her own pace. Something the woman was grateful for towards both of her friends.  
“We probably need to talk about the…”  
“The kiss.” He finished for her and was now fully sitting up in bed, but keeping the distance between them. A part of Raven wished he wouldn’t and the voice in her head screamed for him to scooch closer, but he didn’t.  
“Yeah, the kiss.” She finally got herself to look at him. There was no hint on his face how he was feeling, making it harder for her, then she hoped if she knew how he felt it would be easier to make a decision. To say whatever was better, that she could back out of this if she needed to. He didn’t say anything still waiting for her. “We had a lot to drink that night, actually scratch that. We had a lot to drink that whole day. I just… I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have. It shouldn’t have happened.”  
For a moment it looked like he was disappointed, but in just a blink that was gone again and his expression was blank again. “Is that how you really feel?”  
_Yes. No!_ Raven sighed again, not being able to answer that question.

“Listen, Raven, you said you want to talk, so?”  
“I know, it’s just… it’s not easy. You’re my best friend.”  
“I’m aware of that. Have been for years.” Was it her mind playing tricks on her or was he harsh. Raven could feel the tears filling up her eyes and she looked away again.  
“I don’t want to lose our friendship.” The words came out as a whisper, she didn’t trust her own voice to not break as it was already hard enough.  
Finally Murphy scooched over, their knees touching. “You’re not going to lose me, no matter what.”  
Maybe coming here was a mistake, maybe she should have done this at all. The damage was already done when they kissed, but at least by pretending nothing happened she could have held onto the friendship and the illusion just a little longer before they broke.

He placed a finger under her chin forcing her to look up, to look at him. His blank expression broke and now there was pain in his eyes. “Fine, if you’re not talking then I will. Raven Reyes, you’re my best friend. I’m not going to lie, it wasn’t an instant bond and you of all people know that the best. We were pretty much at each other’s throat at the beginning, but as annoying as you can be, you grew on me.” He grinned at her, but it was not the usual grin, it had an undertone of sadness. “You grew on me a lot, then as much as past Murphy would kill me for this, I can’t imagine my life without you. So, when I tell you, there is no way you’re losing me, I mean it.”  
“Murphy…”  
“No, you had your chance to talk, it’s my turn now.” His voice was harsh, but his expression was soft, and he dropped his hand from her chin, to grab one of her hands instead. “I don’t regret kissing you. Even if it means you have to avoid me for a while because you think it was a mistake, I don’t regret it and would do it again. It’s something I have been wanting to do for a long long time.” Raven’s heart was beating wild in her chest as she was slowly realizing what he was saying and she was about to interrupt him, but he gently squeezed her hand and she knew she had to let him finish. She understood the way he felt, he needed to say it now, while he still had the courage to do so. “If you don’t feel the same way and you want to just be friends, I will accept that, but I can’t say I regret what happened, because that would be a lie. And if you say you can’t stay my friend after this, well I will accept that too. But we got the snowball rolling and it had to be said, for the tiny chance that you feel the same way.”

Raven felt almost dizzy with all the thoughts swirling around in her head and now that she could speak, she didn’t know where to start. So her lips just blurted out the first thing.  
“Holy shit, Echo was right all this time?”  
“Not the answer I expected…”  
“No, no!” This time it was her to shush him. “It’s just something she has been saying about you looking at me differently and I- I didn’t realize how ignorant I have been about it.”  
He still looked confused and Raven knew her words didn’t give any type of clarity to him, so she took a deep breath. If he could do this, then so could she. He opened up to her, exposing himself, leaving himself vulnerable, something she knew he didn’t like doing. He trusted her.  
“I thought you avoided me, because you regretted what happened and that you just wanted to pretend it never happened. And I didn’t want it to break our friendship. Past Raven would absolutely kill me for this too, but you have been there for me for so much, I don’t know anymore what my life without you would be. That I’m sure of. But…” She could see his eyes going darker as soon as she said that word and she made sure to continue quickly. She didn’t want to cause him any pain if she didn’t have to. “For these past days I have been trying to figure out how I feel and what I want. I just kept going in circles, always landing on not wanting to lose you and whatever we have, but didn’t… I can’t… I don’t know…”  
The tears rolled down her cheeks and Murphy let go of her hand to pull her into a hug, her head resting against his chest.

“It’s okay.” He whispered with Raven crying into his shirt. They have been sitting like that for a while, before he leaned back in bed and pulled the woman with him. She couldn’t give him a clear answer, but he understood. At this point they didn’t need words to communicate.  
“If you get sick, it’s totally my fault.” His voice was a little hoarse as they have been both quiet for a while now. “If you want to go home, it’s fine.”  
Raven didn’t say anything, but buried her hand in his shirt and shook her head a bit. That was answer enough for him and he pulled a blanket over both of them, resting both of his arms around her. Laying there with him was the first peaceful moment she has had since that fateful kiss. It was no wonder they both fell asleep for a while

When Raven woke up hours later it was dark outside and Murphy was gone. She sat up looking around. Everything was the same except that he wasn’t there anymore. She was about to call out for him, when he came back, with a plate and a glass of water in his hands, handing her the water.  
“Sorry, I woke up and was hungry, didn’t want to disturb you though. Thought you could use the water when you wake up.”  
“Thanks.” He was right, she really could use the water, with all the tears she shed earlier. He even offered her one of the sandwiches but she shook her head. So, they got the conversation going earlier, but it was still up in the air. “Murphy…”  
“Don’t, Raven. As I said earlier, if you say no, I will respect your choice, however don’t force an answer out of yourself, just because you think you have to. If you think there is even just a spark of the chance, that this could work… We can do it on our own term, we can see where this leads. We don’t have to decide anything right now.”

His words replayed in her mind as she was thinking about it. Was he right? Could they do it on their own terms? That would include not telling their friends, at least not for now and some of them were hard to keep secrets from. Especially Echo, since she already knew what happened and she would probably expect an update.  
“It wouldn’t have taken me so long and I wouldn’t have been so confused if I knew the answer was no. I don’t know what I want, but I know what I don’t want, and that’s you out of my life.”  
This time around his smile looked genuine again, without sadness and without pain in his eyes, making her heart skip a beat but also clench at the same time.  
“What if it doesn’t work out?” She asked quietly.  
“Then it doesn’t and we remain friends. Just promise me that’s not the mindset you’re going into this with. If you decide now that it’s going to fail, then we have no chance.”  
“Okay, I promise.” He had more faith in this, but that made sense, since his mind was made up about how he felt, while hers seemed a mess.  
“It’ll be fine, we just do this at our own terms, our own pace and see where this journey leads us. Just you and me.”

She could wait until tomorrow to tell him that they might need to involve Echo too. For now, she was fine with just the two of them. Without him saying anything, she laid back and cuddled up to his side again. Murphy turned on the TV and they were watching until they both fell asleep again. Raven didn’t want to leave and he didn’t want her to leave either. Despite everything, at that moment she knew she was happy.


	14. December 14th - You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, we're already over halfway through it... yeah I just realized that today. It's crazy. I hope you're all still enjoying it. Not to overlook or undermine this chapter, but I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's and I hope I get to do it the way I imagined. Also originally I kinda had a different thought for this chapter, but then things happened in previous chapters and this worked. Prompt wise it's a bit like candy cane, where I put it in there, but the focus is on other things. But without going on any further... Please enjoy. :)

This time she woke up before Murphy. They were still laying in the same position as they fell asleep last night. Yesterday was an emotional roller coaster for her, but right now she felt calm and happy. Usually Murphy had that effect, when she wasn’t worried about their friendship breaking and confused about her feelings. But those were thoughts she pushed aside for now. She didn’t want to move, too afraid it would wake him up, so instead she closed her eyes and listened to his steady heartbeat until he woke up too.

“Morning.” He said and stretched with a yawn. “Gotta say, I’m a bit surprised you’re still here.”  
She sat up and gave him a half annoyed half confused look. “What’s that supposed to mean.”  
“Oh you know what it means.” He just shrugged, like he always did when he knew he was right. Raven knew what he meant. She had the habit of disappearing in the middle of the night whenever she immediately regretted getting involved with someone. It was something Murphy was well aware of, considering she told him about it, as sometimes she fled to his place when that happened.   
“Sometimes you’re a pain in the ass.”  
“And yet you like me.”  
Raven didn’t reply, but just pouted, so Murphy grabbed her hand and pulled her back, kissing her cheek. While his arms were around her again, he left her space and the opportunity to pull back if she wanted. He didn’t need to say it for her to know he was not going to rush her and push her to do something she didn’t want to do. 

“You really want this to work, don’t you?”  
“I thought that was clear by now.”  
“Yeah, but… I don’t know ,I guess I just realized it too.”  
“Raven, I have wanted this for a long time, but our timing never seemed right. Either you were in a relationship or I was or something else came up. And now it just seems right.”  
The brunette thought about her past relationships. Apart from Finn, neither of them lasted long. If she would have known back then that Murphy had feelings for her too… Or maybe subconsciously she knew and that’s why her relationship never lasted long. She shook that thought off. It was more likely that they didn’t last, because of her trust issues she already had, but only got worse after Finn cheated on her. 

“As I said, at our own terms and our own pace. Just you and me.”  
“Yeah, about that..” Raven pushed herself away so she was able to look at Murphy. Hesitating a little, she brushed a strand of hair behind her ear. “It’s probably more like you and me and Echo…”  
“I’m flattered, but I’m happy with just you.”  
“Murphy! That’s not what I meant.” She punched his arm with an eye roll. “I told her about the kiss… so she probably wants an update soon…”  
As if on cue, her phone lit up, announcing a new text message from Echo.

_> hey sorry i couldn’t be much of a help the other day  
still here if you need to talk  
btw thanks for the help with the cookies they were a hit!!_

The man’s gaze wandered to the text message too, but he stayed quiet and Raven searched his face for a hint of any kind of expression. Finally he spoke.  
“You baked cookies?”  
“That’s all you have to say?”  
“No, but that’s the part I’m most interested in.”  
Raven rolled her eyes again, seriously doubting her own sanity for liking the man so much as she did.  
“I didn’t do much, mostly moping and using a cookie cutter. And eating the already baked cookies.”  
“Ah yeah, that sounds much more like you. Although I’m surprised Echo was baking too, I suppose you want to talk about the other thing instead.”  
“Echo always went on how she thinks we would make a good couple, but she is also brutally honest. So, it made sense to talk to her. And you know it’s nearly impossible to keep secrets from her. As much as I would like to keep this - whatever this is - between us for now, so we can figure out things before everyone else gets involved too. I swear Echo was a spy in a previous life or something.”  
“I think it could be good to have an inside man have us help sneak around.” He grinned.  
“Oh you’re enjoying this way too much.”  
“And you don’t enjoy it enough.”

For now Raven put her phone to the side, she would reply Echo later, filling her in a bit. But for now she wanted to stay in this bubble they were in since yesterday afternoon. It was a comforting space. Her brown eyes met Murphy’s blue gaze and she smiled.  
“You look better, how are you feeling?”  
“Much better, thanks to you.”  
“It would be cool, but I don’t think I have healing powers like that. It’s probably the combination of the soup and enough sleep.”  
“Always with the scientific explanations, Reyes.”  
“I can’t help it, I’m a genius.”

They were sitting there for a while just talking, before Raven announced she needed to go home. Much to Murphy’s protest. Even after Raven explained she needed to shower and change her clothes, he was still reluctant.  
“Are you coming back?”  
“Maybe it would be better for you healing if you were alone for the rest of the day?”  
“Pretty sure we established it’s better for my healing if you’re here with me.”  
“No, that was you establishing it. You all alone.”  
“Ouch, hurting a sick man like that.”  
“Nothing you can’t take, Murphy.”

She was almost at the bedroom door when Murphy called after her.  
“You’re a mean one, Mr Grinch!”  
“It’s not going to work.” She didn’t even look back just waved. The woman was only halfway across the living room when _You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch_ started playing on the loudspeakers.

_> very funny!  
>i thought so too, glad you agree  
>see you later.  
>hah! so you’re coming back?  
>later /ˈleɪ.t̬ɚ/  
**adverb**  
at a time in the future_

Just a few seconds later he sent her a YouTube link to the song. It took her a bit to find the GIF, but she sent a Grinch one with the text saying “ _that’s it, I’m not going_ ” as a reply. His answer came fast in the form of pleading puppy eyes. While she would have appreciated being alone to have a little time to think, without being influenced by his good looks and his smell, she also had to admit, a big part of her really wanted to go back, already missing him. It wasn’t usual for her to feel like this, but she couldn’t say she minded it much.

The whole time she showered she was torn between staying and going back, but by the time she got out of the bathroom, she made up her mind. She got into some comfortable clothes and packed a few things for staying overnight. Staying at his place for just one more night couldn’t harm anyone. She found Murphy in bed, reading and humming the lyrics to _You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch_. He grinned when Raven walked through the door and dropped her bag by the end of the bed.   
“But if you even just mention that song again, I’m leaving.”  
“Deal.” He lifted the blanket and let her climb back in bed with him. “So… do you want to facetime Echo and shock her?”  
“You’re way too keen on doing this.”  
However she got her phone out and called Echo. She answered pretty quickly and Raven waved at her with a small smile.

“You have perfect timing, I just got home. What’s up? Did you want to talk more? I mean I didn’t change my mind on the topic, did you?”  
Raven glanced to the side, but before she could say anything Murphy leaned closer so he was visible to Echo too, now.  
“Actually I’m working on that.” His grin only got wider when Echo almost dropped her phone.  
“EXPLAIN!”  
They got the woman filled in, as much as they were comfortable with sharing and made her promise to not tell anyone. Echo assured them she wouldn’t tell anyone, especially since it was not her place to tell and also told them how happy she was. Although that they could already see without her telling them. They talked about the weekend and Echo’s promotion a little longer, before hanging up.

They both decided cooking was not going to happen and instead they ordered take-out. While they waited for the food to arrive they tried to pick something to watch. Everything felt like a normal evening when they hung out together, and still it was so different. But not in a bad way, Raven did notice a few changes, and it didn’t escape her, how Murphy’s eyes linger on her every now and then, just making sure she was comfortable. Usually life just threw her into all kinds of situations and she had to adapt, it was a nice change to have someone look at for her to make sure she was fine. Maybe Echo was right, and it could actually be an advantage that Murphy and her started out with a solid friendship. Only time would prove.


	15. December 15th - Memories

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have to say, it didn't exactly turn out the way I wanted it and I know it's shorter than other chapters, I still hope you guys can enjoy it. I might end up editing it a bit tomorrow, but I wasn't feeling well today, however I really didn't want to skip yet another day. Not after I just did a few days ago.

One of her first memories also involves Raven’s first Christmas. For most of the time it has been her and her mother, at least long term, but there have always been those occasional guys showing up. Neither one of them sticking around for long, neither one of them great. Although they say Christmas is a family holiday, her mother always seemed keen on not spending it alone with her daughter. Occasionally her boyfriends - if they could even be called that - dropped off a doll and considered it the greatest present ever. Not even caring that Raven didn’t like dolls at all. Although as time passed Raven came to miss those days, then it seemed the older she got, the worse her mother got too. She still wondered, if it was because her mother at least tried, when she was younger, but once Raven got older, her mother turned to alcohol more often.

At first she only forgot Christmases, but then when she couldn’t find a new guy to spend the holidays with she drank even more throughout those days. One year she knocked over the Christmas tree and smashed almost every decoration they had in the house. The presents would have suffered a similar fate if there would have been any. As a child she often saw those holiday movies on TV and they were nothing like her reality. It all seemed like just a fairy tale to her, something that couldn’t exist. At least until she became aware that her classmates had Christmas celebrations much like those. The only happy memories she had of Christmas weren’t even her own memories. 

Their last Christmas together, her mother stormed out of the apartment in the morning after yet another fight they had, which only started because her mother started drinking early. Or maybe she never stopped. Raven found her on the couch with a half-empty bottle in her hand. Her mother didn’t return. She called the few friends her mother had but no one has seen her. Finally she found her at a hospital, where days later she passed away. Christmas wasn’t a time of the year she looked forward to before, but after that she preferred to just ignore it. And that included not talking about it, too. Or at least talking about it very little. Finn and Murphy were the only ones to know everything. Finn, because he has been part of her life for most of with, with them being neighbors and friends. In fact they just started going out around that time. And Murphy… well there was very little Murphy didn’t know about her. Jasper, Echo and Bellamy new parts of it but not everything. And the rest of the group only knew things on the surface.

Christmas at the Murphy household has been a big contrast to that of her experiences. In fact they had those celebrations she was dreaming about. While his mother was baking, filling the house with gingerbread smell, the young boy and his dad decorated the tree together. It has been their tradition and each year they went out and brought a new unique Christmas tree decoration. Christmas dinner was cooked by the whole family as both men insisted to help out. They ate together, played, sang and watched Christmas movies. There were always enough presents under the tree for him, with his parents making sure he got what he wished for.

Even after his father died, they kept the tradition going to honor his memory. Even after his mother started spiraling, turning to alcohol and being angrier than he has seen her before. Even that year, he did everything to still make Christmas a magical time like it has always been. And he has done that ever since, even keeping up with the tradition of buying a new ornament each year. Even if the last Christmas he has spent with his mother wasn’t the best, he had plenty of happy memories he cherished and swore to make many more happy memories in the future. He fully understood why Raven disliked Christmas, he did wish, he could give her at least one happy Christmas memory.

He was confident that if he was just stubborn enough and moving in small steps, slowly easing her into it, it could actually work. After all Murphy knew about the movies she used to watch and wish she could be a part of that too when she was younger and he believed somewhere deep down she still had that wish. Even if she has long forgotten.


	16. December 16th - Christmas Concert

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I feel much better today. But I have to admit I got totally distracted by Animal Crossing for half the day... Time just flies by. However here is today's chapter. I hope this makes up for yesterday's chapter (which I still plan to edit a bit). I think I like this one. ;)

Every year the hospital where Clarke, her mother and Jackson worked, held a charity Christmas concert and they were all invited. It was almost like an unspoken tradition. And usually it was one of the few activities from which Raven excused herself.Too many things that made her feel uncomfortable came together and she just thought it was better not to go. However this year was the exception, she still wasn’t very keen on going, but a couple days ago Octavia and Jasper agreed to bring Maya and Lincoln, so they could meet the friends group and still have someone else from the outside to help them when all the crazy of the group came crashing down on them. Or something like that. They were all aware that they could be a lot sometimes, but they loved each other just the way they were - mostly chaotic. And since Raven didn’t want to miss out on meeting Lincoln and Maya, she begrudgingly agreed to go.

A decision she very much regretted in this very moment, standing in front of the mirror looking at herself. There were some dresses she really liked to wear, but dressing formally was another thing. Echo went shopping with her and helped her pick a dress, although Raven had the suspicion the other woman enjoyed it too much, when she caught her mumbling something about how Murphy wouldn’t be able to take his eyes off her when she would wear one of the dresses she was showing her.  
“In that case it’s good I’m not taking it, because it’s still a secret and him staring at me would be pretty much blowing it.” Not to mention the fact that she still wasn’t sure what it was, the only thing she knew was that she was fine with not labeling things right now and just enjoying things as they were, but also keeping it between helped take off some of the pressure.

It seemed almost impossible to find a dress that wasn’t too much or too sexy, with either the back or the front showing too much. Raven was about to give up when Echo returned with a wine red tulle dress. It was not the dress she would have picked on her own but after her friend insisted she try it on, she had to admit she liked it. It was simple and still it looked good. Now she was at home, looking at herself in that very same dress. Echo even picked out earrings and a bag for her. She even did her make up and an updo with some minimal braiding. This was already way more than she usually did, so it was no wonder she felt out of her comfort zone. The high heels was where she drew the line and instead she slipped into her usual Doc Martens boots. The dress was long enough to cover them and for no one to notice.

The doorbell rang and she knew it must be Murphy, they agreed he would pick her up and they could drive together. Everyone was convinced it was because it was just practical and she wouldn’t have to ride the bus that way in her formal dress and everything, but Raven knew that was not Murphy’s reasoning. He did it so she couldn’t back out and wouldn’t be able to back out. That they could spend a bit more time alone together was just an added bonus for him.

Raven has seen Murphy in a suit a few times and he always looked stunning. Next to him - and all of her other friends - she would look like an impostor, she was convinced of that, so when she opened the door, she felt nervous, even biting her lip. He had his usual grin, ready to say something snarky, but the words got stuck in his throat when he saw Raven.  
“Hey.” She said, looking down on herself and then back at him. She was aware that seeing her in a formal dress was unusual, but was it that bad?!  
“You look stunning.” He finally said as he stepped into her apartment.  
“Oh, thanks.” Good that she was already wearing blush and that was it wasn’t too obvious that his words made her flush bright red. “Hold on, I just need to put on a cardigan and then I’m ready.”  
She walked back into the bedroom and picked up the cardigan Harper borrowed her. She peeked in the mirror one last time, feeling a little better about her attire, before returning to Murphy.  
“You look good too, by the way.”  
“I always do.” He said in a smug way, taking her coat off the hook, helping her into it. 

They arrived at the same time as Harper, Monty and Echo. Latter one looked very proud when Monty and Harper both were shocked for a second and then complimented Raven on her looks. For some reason even Murphy smiled proud. And although the brunette didn’t enjoy being the center of attention for her looks, it still felt nice to get compliments, she couldn’t deny it. Inside they met up with Clarke, Bellamy, Jackson and Miller, who had a similar reaction than Monty and Harper before. Raven quickly tried to distract everyone and asked if they had seen Jasper and Octavia.  
“I spoke to her just ten minutes ago or so, they should be here soon.” Bellamy explained, but took out his phone to check his phone if there were any new messages.  
“There they are.” Harper pointed at the entrance with their friends and their partners just arriving. 

Jasper and Octavia introduced Maya and Lincoln to the group and for the next few minutes it was a bit of a mess as everyone tried to greet them and get involved in a bit of a small talk. Some of them already knew Maya, considering she has been delivering their pizza for a while now, but it was nice to meet her outside of work. Talking to Lincoln, Bellamy’s big brother side came out and Clarke did her best to keep him under control, especially after she noticed the gazes Octavia gave her brother. The rest of them really just tried not to chuckle. Especially since in any other situation neither one of them thought Bellamy could have been intimidating to Lincoln in any way, yet the poor guy looked very nervous.  
“So,” Murphy turned to Jasper and Maya, “I know I have seen you before and still I’m amazed you’re a real woman and Jasper didn’t just come up with this whole thing.”  
“Please don’t listen to him, he is just jealous.” Raven waved dismissive in Murphy’s direction and smiled at Maya and Jasper. “You will get used to his humor with time, until then feel free to ignore him.”

They talked a bit longer before they got the signal to slowly move inside taking their place. Raven and Murphy were one of the last ones, and just as she was about to walk inside Murphy pulled her to the side, trapping her between the wall and his arms. It took her by surprise and knocked the air out of her lungs.  
“Jealous, hm?” He asked in a low whisper, but Raven was unable to answer. Her heart was beating so fast, she was sure he could hear it. He looked into her eyes before he leaned in, his lips tracing a path of kisses on her neck. “Is that really what you think?”  
She could feel his warm breath on her neck and it sent a chill down her spine. “Murphy…” Finally she spoke in an almost pleading voice. “They’ll catch us.”  
He chuckled, but pushed himself away and helped her inside. Monty gave them a questioning look when they arrived later and Raven quickly explained she needed the ladies room and Murphy waited for her so she would still be able to find her way back. It was plausible enough, then Monty didn’t push any further and Raven was glad she could lie so well.

When it got dark, Raven focused her gaze on the stage in front of them, but was very much aware of Murphy’s presence next to her. Even more so when he took her hand. She glanced at him, but his face remained fixed on the band and just smiled. It was dark enough inside and they were sitting at the edge of the group, so she didn’t pull her hand away, as there was no way any of their friends could see anyway. 

The hour passed by a little slow for her taste, but it was over now and she was glad she didn’t have to do it anytime soon again. Or so she thought. Slowly everyone got up walking back to the big space at the entrance for drinks. She lifted her dress when she stood, so she wouldn’t trip on her dress and her boots got Murphy’s attention.  
“Still the same old Raven, I see.”  
“What else did you expect?” She winked and followed her friends.  
“So, did you enjoy one hour of uninterrupted Christmas music?”  
“Do you want an honest or a polite answer?”  
“An honest answer to what?” Jasper asked when they caught up with the group and someone handed them glasses of wine.  
“On a scale of one to ten, what do you think how much Reyes enjoyed the last hour?”  
“I’ll go with one.” Octavia was the first to answer.  
“Is minus twenty an option?” Echo asked.  
“Let’s be generous, three?” Monty asked and Harper next to him shook her head.  
“No, that’s too generous, it’s more likely a zero.”  
“You guys are terrible.” Bellamy sighed, but he raised his hand signaling a three.  
“Just to catch you two up, Raven doesn’t like Christmas and anything Christmas related and it’s actually a wonder she is here tonight.” Miller quickly explained to Maya and Lincoln, both of whom looked very confused.  
“I think she enjoyed it more than you give her credit for.” Murphy winked, being well aware that he asked them about the hour in general and not just the music. Raven rolled her eyes and Echo took a big sip of her wine to hide her smile.

They had a bit more time to talk now and everyone did their best to get to know Lincoln and Maya, even inviting them to ice skating the day after tomorrow. Jasper and Octavia high fived.  
“They passed the vibe check.”  
“They crashed it.”  
Everyone laughed and soon it was time to say goodbye. Echo managed to catch Raven in the big chaos and pull her aside.  
“So…?”  
“So what?”  
“You and Murphy? I’m dying for an update. And did you see all the glances he got tonight from women? Damn girl, even I have to admit he looks handsome tonight.”  
“Echo!” Raven looked around making sure no one heard them and ignored the clench she felt in her stomach when Echo mentioned other women looking at Murphy.  
“It’s true.” She turned Raven a little so she could see a woman standing at the bar trying to catch Murphy’s attention by laughing way too loud at something her friend said. Or another woman who looked like she was undressing Murphy in her head. Both of them looked absolutely stunning. “Look, I’m just saying. He likes you, but you can’t expect him to wait around forever.”  
Raven didn’t say anything, just glanced between the two women Echo pointed out to her.

“There you are! Ready to go home?” Murphy stepped up to them and Raven nodded.  
“Talk to you tomorrow.” She waved to Echo and followed Murphy.  
On the way home she has been quiet, just looking out of the window. Finally when they stopped at the next red light Murphy took her hand, squeezing it gentle to get her attention.  
“Everything alright?”  
“Yeah… I’m just… tired.” She gave him a reassuring smile, that was meant to be convincing but failed.  
When they came to a stop in front of Raven’s building, Murphy got out too, helping her.  
“Look, your lies might convince Monty, but I know you better than that.” She should have known her lies wouldn’t convince Murphy.  
“Do you want to come upstairs?” She asked with a deep sigh.

Raven made tea and sat on top of the counter with her mug in her hand. Murphy was leaning against the counter across the kitchen looking at her and waiting for her to speak.  
“Echo pointed out something tonight…”  
“Hm?” Of course that wasn’t enough explanation for him.  
“That you’re very attractive-”  
“We already knew that.” He chuckled.  
“... and that other women notice that too...”  
There was a flash of recognition in his eyes, he put down his mug and with a few quick steps he crossed the room, stopping in front of her.  
“It’s you, who is jealous, Reyes!”  
“I’m not!”  
“Oh, you are!” It seemed like he was absolutely amused by that fact, more than Raven enjoyed him being.  
“No, it’s just… Okay maybe a bit. But Echo also said that you won’t be waiting around forever. And it’s not fair of me to expect you to.”  
“I’ve had a crush on you for years, I think I can wait around a bit longer.” He was still smiling and it was such a contrast to the way Raven felt.  
“But…”  
“Listen to me, it’s not like you keep me waiting around. Sure, you need to sort out how you feel and that’s fine. We agreed to do it our way and see where it leads us. Hey, maybe I’ll notice this isn’t what I want.” When he saw the panic in Raven’s eyes at his words, he stopped smiling and continued in a more serious tone. “I’m just saying, we’re doing this to see what happens, we’re not doing this because you don’t know what you want. I know what I want, but that doesn’t have to mean it’s all set in stone. I like Echo, but this is between you and me and you shouldn’t listen to her. At least not in this matter. If something is bothering you I would prefer you come and talk to me.”  
He held her face in both of his hands and placed a kiss on her forehead.  
“And don’t think I didn’t notice all those times when you blushed or when your heart beats fast when you’re close to me or when I touch you. And because of all those signs I know it’s worth it to wait. Don’t think a pretty girl with a loud laugh will distract me from that. Or was it the one twisting her hair around her fingers trying her hardest.”  
It surprised her just how much he noticed, not just the women tonight, but about her and all her reactions she had when it came to him. Sometimes it felt like he knew her better than she knew herself. Maybe he knew something she didn’t know yet.  
“Do you want to stay tonight?”  
“Do you want me to stay?”  
“... _yes_.”


	17. December 17th - Frozen Counts as a Christmas Movie. Shut Up!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We have less than ten days left. Wow. I still feel like I just started, but I can also see the finish line now. Today's chapter is again a more group focused one, but it got Murphy and Raven don't worry. Tomorrow we will once again have a group chapter and then we will see. But for now, enjoy today's chapter.

Falling asleep next to Murphy just became so normal, even though it has been only the third night they spent together. Nothing happened, other than them cuddling, but she felt safe and comfortable next to him. Usually she liked to have her own space in bed or literally just escape, but with him it was different. He left for work from her space. With a big cup of coffee she got comfortable on the couch and turned on her laptop. There were a few things she could work on from home, and considering the cold outside, she very much preferred to stay inside.

She got lost in her work, not even noticing that it was getting dark outside. It was the onsetting headache that reminded her she hasn’t eaten since this morning. She picked up her phone and there were several messages and a few missed calls. It wasn’t the first time this happened. She could easily forget everything else around her when she was working. Raven finished the work for the day and walked into the kitchen to get something to eat while reading through the messages she missed. The last one was from Octavia.

_> we need you to settle a fight!  
come over asap  
also, pizza or chinese?  
>o...kay?  
pizza_

She didn’t question it, text messages like these weren’t exactly rare. It was probably just something silly, but usually it was a good excuse to spend time together with friends. Not that they needed excuses for that. They could fight like hell, but when it came down to it, they have been there for each other and it felt like even those fights have brought them closer together. 

Soon Raven knocked on Octavia’s door and was let in by Jasper. Monty, Echo, Lincoln and Bellamy have been there too. Raven was informed that Clarke and Jackson had to work and Miller wanted a night off being exhausted from work himself. Harper was meeting other friends. Maya would come over after her shift and bring pizza and Murphy must already be on his way too. The brunette spotted a bowl with all kinds of candy and picked up one of the candy canes before sitting down next to Jasper and Octavia.  
“So, what fight needs settling?”  
“Oh that, it’s abo-” Jasper was interrupted by the doorbell. “Hold on.”  
He returned with Murphy in tow who greeted them all, his eyes finally resting on Lincoln.  
“I see last night didn’t scare you off.”  
Lincoln chuckled and shook his head. “It would take a little more than that to scare me off.”  
Octavia seemed more than happy with that answer sitting down in his lap.  
“So, why did we gather here?” He asked, taking over Octavia’s spot on the couch between Echo and Raven.

“Oh right, as I was going to tell Raven, we’re here to settle the fight between Octavia and me. Is _Frozen_ a Christmas movie or not?”  
“That’s it?”  
“Jeez, not that argument from last year.” Bellamy shook his head.  
“I have said it and I’ll say it again. _Frozen_ counts as a Christmas movie. Shut up!”  
“O-”  
“Oh no, Bellamy, you of all people should understand!”  
“I guess we could listen to both sides.” Murphy spoke over all of them. “And then we can vote, I suppose?”  
“I’m going first!” Jasper got excited before Octavia could speak. “Listen, I like _Frozen_ , but it’s just not a Christmas movie. It has nothing to do with Christmas. Zero. It’s a nice winter movie, but not Christmas. I rest my case.”  
“He got a point there.” Monty said, nodding along.  
“Just wait, because I got my point too. _Frozen_ is more of a family story than a love story, and what do Christmas movies usually include? Family. It also has lots of snow, snowmen, reindeers and singing. I don’t see how you could not see it as a Christmas movie.”  
“She has a point too.” Monty nodded again, looking just as convinced as he did when Jasper spoke.

The doorbell rang again and it was Maya arriving with pizza for everyone.  
“Advantages of dating you.” Jasper said with a grin and pulled Maya into a kiss.  
“They’re cute together.” Raven leaned over, whispering to Murphy.  
“And he is less annoying since they started dating.”  
“If only the same could be said about you.” Echo chimed in also in a low whisper.  
“Echo!” Raven gave her a look, but Murphy only chuckled.  
“Are you saying I’m annoying? Ouch!”

Everyone started eating the pizza and they quickly got Maya filled in on the topic.  
“You all realize where this is leading, right?” She asked. “We have to watch the movie.”  
No one protested and so Octavia put on the movie. Each song from the movie had a few of them singing along, but for _Let It Go_ , they were all singing. It was safe to say they have all seen it more than once. Even Lincoln was singing some of the lyrics, much to the surprise of everyone present.

When the movie was over, Jasper and Octavia both claimed they were right.  
“Alright, let’s vote.” Bellamy said. He seemed very keen on finally putting this argument to rest.  
Octavia gave everyone a piece of paper and pens, urging them to vote.  
“So, what do you think?” Murphy leaned over trying to peek at her paper, but it was still blank.  
“Octavia had a good point… but I enjoy _Frozen_ and if I say it’s a Christmas movie, then well… it kinda ruins it.”  
“But _Die Hard_ is pretty much accepted as a Christmas movie too and you enjoy that one.”  
“Damn, now you got a good point.”  
Murphy shrugged with a grin and watched how Raven wrote _yes_ on her paper.  
“And what are you voting?” She tried to peek too, but he quickly folded his paper. “Let yourself be surprised.”  
“Hey, not fair.”

They threw all the votes into a bowl and Monty had the honor to pull them out counting the votes. It didn’t take long and there was only one last piece of paper left.  
“Alright, we got four votes saying yes and four saying no. This last one decides. And it says...” Monty reminded them, before unfolding the last vote. He was confused and held it up. “It’s blank.”  
They all turned to Raven, who raised her hands and shook her head. “It wasn’t me.” And she was sure she knew who it was, then he was sitting next to her grinning.  
“How about we agree to disagree?” Murphy spoke to everyone and then lowered his voice so only Raven could hear him. “This way it’s not a Christmas movie, but it also could be. You can enjoy it guilt free.”  
“Fine, I’m dropping it… at least for this year.” Octavia admitted the defeat and although it seemed Jasper was about to demand a new vote, he gave up too. But neither one of them promised to not bring it up again next year.

An hour later Murphy and Raven were on the street waving everyone goodbye. It just started snowing and everyone decided it was best to get home now before everything stopped because in the city no one knew how to handle snow. Murphy waited until everyone was far away and couldn’t see them anymore, before holding his hand out to Raven.  
“Want to walk with him.”  
“You want to walk?”  
“Yeah, it’s pretty with the snow, and I bet you spent all day in front of your laptop anyway.” She felt called out and blushed a bit, but slipped her hand into his.  
“Your place or mine?”  
Although he didn’t say it, Raven could see he was glad she planned to spend this night with him too. In fact since she went to visit him after their kiss, they only have spent one night apart. The woman knew he wouldn’t push her to do something she didn’t want to or wasn’t ready for, which she was grateful for. She also knew if she was ready, she would have to show him. For now she was happy with things as they were. Taking baby steps and doing things at her own pace worked for her. It was good to be freed from all the pressure she would usually have felt with anyone else. But Murphy made it clear on several occasions that they make their own rules.  
“Mine. I got the day off tomorrow and if we go to my place, I have an easier job of keeping you away from your laptop.”  
“Sneaky, but this is on me for letting you choose.”

For the rest of the walk home, Murphy was humming _Fixer Upper_ from the movie, while Raven was trying to catch snowflakes with her tongue.


	18. December 18th - Skating

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, so remember when I said some chapters just do whatever they want? Like I think of a concept of how I want it to go and then while I'm in the middle of the chapter it just goes like 'actually, what if we did this?'... This chapter was definitely one of those. But oh boy did it turn out to be fun. I hope I'm not the only one thinking that.

Murphy kept true to his promise and did his best to keep her away from her laptop all day and instead make Raven spend time with him. And while she was reluctant to admit, it actually didn’t take much convincing, and she gladly spent some time with him. He let her decide what they would have for lunch, but definitely made her help him out in the kitchen, which much like any other time when someone put Raven on kitchen duty ended in her just chilling on the counter, tasting things and commenting everything.

They let the TV run in the background but neither one of them paid much attention to it, instead Murphy found some old board games and they ended up playing for a couple rounds. Overall it was a very chill day for both of them, but they wouldn’t have traded it in for anything. Murphy just brought up the topic of them probably having to get ready soon, when Raven’s phone rang.  
“Hey Jasper, what’s up? Sure… but I’m actually not home. Hm? Just some present shopping… Okay, see you soon.” The conversation didn’t last for long and Murphy’s eyebrow was raised the whole time.  
“He asked if I could meet him and Maya before we go to the ice rink. Sorry, but I need to get home, they will come by to pick me up.” While she talked she was already putting on her boots and her sweater.  
“So, is present shopping a code for something or is that your nickname for me?” He grinned at her and she just rolled her eyes, but leaned in to kiss him on the cheek.  
“See you later.”

Raven didn’t think about how natural it came to her to kiss his cheek until she was running down the stairs. The few couple of days have already been kind of weird, maybe his plan worked and it was just all gradually growing on her. She couldn’t dwell on it for long, then when she got on the street, she heard her name being called from above.  
“Hey, Reyes!” She looked up to see Murphy leaning out of the kitchen window with a bag in his hand. “Catch!”  
She didn’t even think about it, just moved to catch the bag with both hands as he let go. It was a nice paper bag, with some packaging paper on top hiding what was inside.  
“You’re supposed to be present shopping, remember? Can’t show up empty handed. Just don’t let him peek inside, I don’t think anyone wants breakfast cereal for Christmas.”  
“Thanks.” Raven chuckled and looked inside. “Hey, they are already open!”  
“And I want them back.”

The woman just got inside her apartment putting the bag on the counter, when the doorbell rang. She let Jasper and Maya in, glad to see them both.  
“Someone is in a good mood today.” Jasper commented.  
“You make it seem like usually I’m super grumpy.”  
“Weeeeell…”  
“Oh shut up!” She picked up the bag and carried it into her bedroom, then she could already see Jasper eyeing it. “I don’t have much at home right now, but I can offer you water, hot chocolate or wine?”  
“Actually, there is this café near the ice rink, we could get something there.” Maya said.  
“Sounds good, let me just quickly change into more ice skating appropriate clothes.” It was a good excuse and she didn’t have to explain that she needed to change anyway. Fortunately neither one of them seemed to notice that she was wearing the same clothes as yesterday. She totally forgot to pay attention to that until she just changed out of the clothes.

They were already walking over to the café when Raven got a new notification.

_> would it be cheesy to say i miss you already?  
>definitely!  
but i’ll let it slide  
but also you’ll see me just in a bit  
>i know. looking forward to it  
who knows, maybe you’ll fall for me ;)  
>okay now you crossed the line to the land of cheesy  
the line is just a dot to you_

“Raven?” She heard Jasper call her name and looked up.  
“Hm?”  
“Okay spill. What’s up? You’re grinning like a jack-o’-lantern and you’re not getting out of this by accusing me of calling you grumpy.”  
“It’s nothing, I’m just in a good mood.” She didn’t even notice how much she was smiling until Jasper called her out.  
“Suuuure…”  
“It’s just Echo, being silly.”  
“No, this is not your Echo being silly smile. This is your… OH!” It dawned on him and Raven cursed inside her head. Other than Murphy it was probably Jasper who knew her best, since they have been friends for so long. While Murphy was her best friend, Jasper was definitely her oldest friend. “There is a guy! Let me see!”  
“No!” He tried to pick and fortunately Raven locked her screen in time before he could see anything. “There is no guy. There is no no one.”  
“There sure is!”  
“So, Maya. Do you like ice skating?” She turned her attention to the other woman and tried to completely ignore Jasper.  
“Nice try, Raven. Don’t think we’re done.” For now he was ready to back off, but Raven knew how stubborn he could be and she was sure it was not over yet.  
“Actually, my dad took me ice skating every year since I was a little girl.” Maya was chuckling, it seemed she was amused, but she accepted Raven’s distraction, for which the brunette was grateful. “Jasper told me you guys do it a couple of times each year?”  
“Yeah, although I think on average we’re doing more falling than skating, but yeah.”

They arrived at a café and found a nice table by the window. Soon the waitress came to take their orders and they kept chatting while waiting for their drinks, which soon arrived too. Despite the café being very busy, the waitress was quick and very friendly. They all thanked her before returning to their conversation.  
“So, I told Maya you’re one of my oldest and best friends, apart from Monty. So she wanted to meet you, you know… outside of the group. I might have promoted you a bit too much. Which I’m regretting now since you keep secrets from me.”  
“You’ll survive, Jasper.” Raven winked and then smiled at Maya. She hoped it was not like a jealous meet up, where she was going to tell her to back off, when Jasper left them alone. Although Maya didn’t seem like that type of girl, but it wouldn’t be the first time she misjudged someone.  
“I hope it’s not weird. I just know how close you all are and I really want to get to know Jasper friends, since they’re such a big part of his life. And it can be tricky when everyone is together.”  
“We also have a dinner date with Monty and Harper tomorrow. Which sounds so adult and fancy…”  
“How much do I have to pay you for pictures from tomorrow evening?” Raven asked Maya with a big grin on her face who chuckled. They just started going out, but it seemed like she already had a pretty good understanding of his character and who he was. It made Raven happy to see Jasper with someone who appreciated him so much and whom he also liked. She knew he used to have a minor crush on Octavia that just didn’t work out, so this was good. 

They talked for a while before moving over to the ice rink and in that time Maya definitely grew a lot more on Raven. However all that was forgotten when they joined the group.  
“Raven has a guy she is hiding from us!” Jasper bursted out instead of a greeting when he saw their friends. In that moment if looks could have killed, he would have been dead.  
“What?” Clarke looked shocked.  
“Interesting.” Echo said with a smirk.  
“Oh my god. Who is he? How did you meet? When will we meet him?” Harper was already asking a bunch of questions.  
Obviously everyone had an opinion and all of their attention was on her.  
“Oh, does she?” Murphy stood there with his hands in his pocket, absolutely enjoying the situation.  
“Nope, Jasper is just convinced there is someone because I was smiling.”  
“She was smiling at her phone. As in she got a text message. Maybe even some nudes.”  
“Jasper!” Raven basically screamed at him this time and even Murphy choked trying to hide it with a cough. “No nudes were included.”  
“But there is a guy.”  
“No, I just saw something funny.”  
“So show us!” This time Miller was on the receiving end of her death glare.  
“Come on guys, if there is someone we’ll meet them soon enough and until then let’s respect Raven’s privacy.” Raven wasn’t sure if she ever appreciated Monty as much as she did in that very moment. 

Raven put on her skates as fast as she could trying to keep her distance - especially to Jasper, Miller, Echo and Murphy -, and got on the ice. It would definitely be harder to chat and annoy her once they were moving along in circles with the other people. Or so she thought, then soon Murphy caught up with her. She was always surprised just how graceful he looked on the ice.  
“So I make you smile.”  
“As I said, I just saw something funny.”  
“You can’t even fool the others with that, what makes you believe it will work on me?”  
Raven wasn’t clumsy on the ice, but certainly not as graceful as Murphy was, or Clarke, who just skated past them, either. Murphy turned around, now skating backward so he could face her more easily and held out his hand to her. Reluctantly she took it and let him lead her. Since he was the one who taught her a couple of years ago, it didn’t look weird to the others either, so it wouldn’t blow their secret. Besides, Clarke was too busy doing her own rounds, Monty and Harper were doing their couple things, not even paying attention to anyone else. Jackson and Miller kept falling with Octavia in tow who kept laughing at them and then tripping. Echo was showing off and Jasper and Maya were keeping to the side of the rink laughing more than skating. Bellamy and Lincoln decided to stay off the ice for now and instead just watched Jackson, Miller and Octavia judging by the way they were laughing too. 

In conclusion barely anyone was paying attention to them. She was well aware that to anyone else here - other than their friends - they must have seemed like a couple, but it didn’t bother her. Even before, when they went somewhere together people often just assumed they were dating, so it wasn’t that different. Except this time she was very aware of him holding her hand, keeping her from falling, the way his piercing blue eyes rested on her and his smile that was reserved for her.  
While they were doing their rounds it started to snow. Murphy looked up with a smile at the sky.  
“Looks like we might actually get a white Christmas this year.”  
Raven looked up too, which turned out to be a big mistake, then she wasn’t focusing on where she was going anymore and ended up tripping on her own feet, falling forward, basically pushing Murphy too and landing on him. He kept his head from hitting the ice and both his arms came around Raven to keep her safe.  
“Look at that, you _did_ fall for me.” He was chuckling as Raven blushed.


	19. December 19th - Snowball Fight

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're really getting closer to the end. Yes it just dawned on me today. Like I know I was just talking about how we're getting closer to the end the other day, but we're like only a couple chapters away. Wow. Okay yeah, enjoy today's chapter and I'll see you tomorrow (oh I am so excited about tomorrow's chapter like you have no idea!).

Raven woke up in her bed and although the other side of the bed was empty, she knew Murphy was still there. Not because she could hear him in the kitchen, but because she knew he would have woken her up when he would have left. The fact that she just knew it without a doubt made her smile. They have always been close, but these past few days it seemed like an invisible string was pulling them closer. Although she still had her worries and doubts, the woman definitely felt more at ease. She picked up her phone from the nightstand.

_> tell me why i can’t stay in bed all day?!  
>while a day in bed sounds amazing, there is french toast in the kitchen waiting for you  
>it could also come to me  
>nice try  
get your cute butt out of bed_

With a grin she got out of bed and walked over to the kitchen, stopping in front of Murphy.  
“So you think my butt is cute?”  
This time around it was him who only rolled his eyes and handed Raven her plate and coffee. During breakfast they discussed their plans for the day. The brunette actually promised Bellamy she would go over and help him paint the walls. The water damage was bigger than they initially thought, but their landlord took care of it and Bellamy and Clarke took it as an opportunity to redecorate a bit. However this was a very busy time for Clarke at the hospital so Raven volunteered. Murphy said he would have helped too, but he needed to take care of a few things at work and also had a couple more presents to pick up.

They agreed to talk later and Murphy hugged her goodbye kissing the top of her head. She was still smiling as she put on some old clothes that she didn’t mind being covered in paint. Actually the shirt has been with her at almost all of their moves in the past couple of years. It was almost like an album of memories. Instead of her usual boots - even though they were already old too - she put on some old sneakers.

Bellamy was expecting her with a cup of coffee as he opened a door and pulled his friend into a hug.  
“I can offer you breakfast too. Or well, it’s probably more like brunch or lunch at this point.”  
“Thanks, I already ate.”  
“Wait, since when do you eat breakfast?” It was true, usually she didn’t bother and was happy with just a cup of coffee. However it was hard to say no when Murphy was cooking for her.  
“Call it a new habit. I get older and wiser too.”  
“Even wiser? Damn, Raven.”  
This was the good thing about Bellamy, he could be suspicious too, but either he was easier to fool or he just didn’t pry as much when he noticed Raven didn’t want to discuss a certain topic. Some days she really appreciated having a friend like Bellamy. 

They drank their coffee just talking about pretty much everything and Bellamy showed her around, there were a few changes in the apartment due to the damages.  
“So you know that old room where we kept basically all the junk? I want to turn it into an office for Clarke. I picked a few colors, but not sure what I want to go with.”  
There were a few samples painted on one of the walls.  
“If you’re asking me, I vote for the mint blue.”  
“I was leaning towards that one too.”

Raven put her hair into her usual high ponytail and they started covering the floor in newspaper and putting tape over the light swift and everything else they didn’t want covered in paint. With two people it went rather quickly, however they both agreed it would need a second coat. While they waited for it to dry, they decided to go grab lunch as the paint wouldn’t dry faster just because they were watching it. They were both already well into their meals when Bellamy spoke.  
“You know Jasper was right, you just seem genuinely happier lately.” Raven already opened her mouth to reply but Bellamy held up his hand signaling that he was not done yet. “Look, if it’s really because of someone special and you’re not ready to talk about it, that’s cool. You should just know that you’re basically radiating happiness. So whatever it is, keep it going.”  
Raven lowered her gaze, looking at her plate and pushing it from side to side with her fork. “I wish it was that easy…” She whispered and raised her head, two pair of brown eyes meeting. “I’m happy, that’s true, I guess. But there is more at stake.”  
He smiled at her in a warm way and she wondered if he knew what she was talking about. Sometimes she could have sworn he could read her mind.  
“I’m sure it will work out fine.”

Bellamy paid for both of their meals - he insisted as Raven was helping him out with painting. Back in the apartment she made a remark about how the forest green would look good in the kitchen and spontaneously they decided to paint the kitchen too. With now two rooms it took all a bit longer and it was already dark outside when Raven left the place. It was snowing outside, again, and she couldn’t help but wonder if Murphy was right and they might actually get a white Christmas in Arkadia. For the first time in a very long while. She was just about to pull her phone out and call him when he caught her eye leaning against his car.

“Murphy, what are you doing here? What if Clarke or Bellamy see you?”  
“Clarke is still at work, I just left her and she has at least two more hours to go. And Bellamy was with you, if he would have joined you, I could have just pretended to pick up some stuff.” He gestured at the bag on his backseat. “Don’t worry, we got quite good at sneaking around.”  
There was a sparkle in his eyes and Raven realized, he actually enjoyed it. Sneaking around and basically fooling all their friends, he got a kick out of it.  
“You’re so weird, Murphy.” The grin didn’t fade from his lips and he just shrugged. Actually she would have lied if she said she didn’t think it was fun. At the concert anyone could have caught them, they also came close yesterday with Jasper, but that rash of adrenalin was fun. “You still didn’t answer my question.”  
“Well, since it’s one of the rare occasions when Arkadia turns into a winter wonderland, I hoped you would go on a walk with me.”

For these past few days they have been inside a lot, as the possibility of getting caught was significantly less. However the thought of going on a stroll, just hand in hand, being hidden by the coat of darkness and behind the curtain of the slowly falling snow sounded good. She took his hand and it was answer enough for him, as he locked his car and led her towards the park. They weren’t the only ones who had that idea, then there were several couples just walking around and a few families, building snowmen and making snow angels. The laughter of the children filled the air.

Murphy turned at her with a smirk. “So, did you get into a paint war with Bellamy or is this a new fashion choice?”  
Raven was confused at first but then raised her hand to her cheek, feeling the paint under her fingers.  
“Is it blue or green?”  
It was Murphy’s turn to be confused and he furrowed his eyebrows. “Blue.”  
“That’s on me then, I dropped the paintbrush on my head… I thought I got all of it. The paint war was in the kitchen, so if you find green paint, that was Bellamy’s doing.”

After a few steps she came to a halt and looked up at him.  
“Hold on, we have been together for at least twenty minutes and you waited until now to tell me?” She picked up a handful of snow forming into a ball. She was faster than Murphy could react and her snowball caught him right in the chest.  
“Would it save me if I say it looks cute?” He chuckled, but Raven was already picking up the second handful, so he was quicker this time to react. His snowball hit Raven’s shoulder, she threw her snowball too, but it missed this time. They both leaned down at the same time and with the snow in her hand Raven ran away hiding behind a tree until her snowpile was a firm snowball. Peeking around the sides she waited and aimed. She just narrowly missed his leg, but blew her cover and Murphy threw his snowball. Raven managed to duck just in time. However he already had another snowball ready. That one missed too, hitting the tree.  
“Hah!” Raven ran away with a chuckle and he ran after her.

This time Raven waited a bit longer and as he was searching for her, turning around, she aimed at his back actually hitting him this time.  
“That’s where you’re hiding!” She tried to run past him, but he caught her in his arm and they both fell to the ground. Murphy was on top of her pinning her down with his weight. There was a snowball in his hand and he was ready to strike. “Any last words?”  
There was a playful smirk on her lips. “Hm… let me think.” She moved quickly, her hand grabbing the snow and her dumping it on his neck.  
“Oh Reyes, you shouldn’t have done that.” He smashed the snowball on her head, however making sure he wouldn’t hit her face. They were both laughing, trying to get the snow off and out of their clothes, but didn’t get up. Instead Murphy dropped down next to her and they were looking up at the sky. They couldn’t see the stars, but with the snowflakes falling down, it was almost like seeing the stars.


	20. December 20th - Mistletoe

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, I think the title already is hint enough why I was excited about this chapter. I'm not even going to say anything else. Just enjoy it. ;)

They decided spontaneously to just have a chill evening at Monty’s and Harper’s. Some of them had to work hard and it just generally tends to be a stressful time of the year so neither one of them had any objections against a small gathering among their friends. Especially since Harper promised to cook for them - and to not let Monty help her or experiment on the food. He was very enthusiastic in the kitchen… sometimes just a bit too much. 

Raven and Echo arrived together and they were in the kitchen with Harper helping her, or in Raven’s case pretending to help. Monty’s head appeared in the door frame.  
“It’s not fair you let her help but not me.”  
“That’s because Raven only pretends to help, but doesn’t touch anything.” Harper replied in a calm voice with a smile.  
“Hey! Actually… that’s true.” They all chuckled and before Monty could reply the doorbell rang and he disappeared to let Jasper and Maya in. They were the last to arrive. Just in time then not even ten minutes later Harper was done.  
“Alright, Echo! Raven! Can you carry this to the table and then come back please?”  
Both women nodded and picked up the things and walked out one after the other.

Octavia called out for Echo because she wanted to show her something on her phone. Raven was on her way to return to the kitchen when Murphy called out and she stopped.  
“Wait, I will help.”  
Once he caught up with her, Jasper got very excited and pointed at the ceiling.  
“Oh fuck. I forgot.” Murphy mumbled and Raven raised her gaze, just to realize they were standing underneath a mistletoe.  
“I just placed it there when we got here, I didn’t think I would catch someone this soon.” He was grinning wide. “You know the rules.”  
Now all of their focus was on the two of them and the mistletoe, even Harper peeked out of the kitchen.  
“And we want none of that boring peck on the lips bullshit. We want real kisses!” Octavia chimed in and Jasper was nodding along.  
“Exactly what she said.”

Raven caught Echo’s eyes, who didn’t say anything, but looked very interested. She even thought she could see something in Bellamy’s eyes, some kind of curiosity. She swallowed hard and quickly turned her focus back to Murphy and his calming blue eyes.  
“Is it okay for you?”  
“It’s not like we have much of a choice here.” She said and tried to look as casual as she could.  
Murphy let out a small chuckle at her words, before resting one of his hands on her hip and the other cupped her cheek, pulling her closer and he leaned in. Her eyes automatically closed and as soon as his lips touched hers, she forgot everything else around them. They slept in the same bed basically every night, but didn’t kiss again since their first kiss. Not on the lips. Up until now she didn’t realize just how much she carved to kiss him again. People often compared these moments to fireworks, but Raven disagreed. Fireworks were pretty and came with a big and loud bang, but they were gone just as quickly as they came. It was more like a fire awakening from a small sparkle, but burning big and bright. One of her hands mimicked his, cupping his cheek and the other rested on his chest, her fingers tightening around the fabric of his shirt. His grip on her hip tightened, but it was eventually to push her away as he pulled back.

She almost demonstrated, but then remembered where they were and that basically all their friends were watching them. There was silence, but the brunette could feel all of those pairs of gazes resting on her. It was eventually Octavia who broke the silence.  
“I know I said no peck, but that…”  
“Yeah, no way you guys are doing this for the first time!”  
“Spill the story, when did you get drunk and made out?” Raven didn’t expect Jackson to join in.  
“It had to be that party, two years ago.” Now even Miller was invested.  
“Nah, during that time Murphy was with Emori. He is a lot of things, but not a cheater, even when he is drunk.” Octavia recalled and was already searching through her memories.  
“Sorry.” Raven whispered so that only Murphy could hear her, which wasn’t difficult, since all their friends were arguing about parties, that came in question.  
“Okay, but what if it wasn’t at a party, they just got drunk. They are best friends and hang out a lot.” Monty brought up a good argument and that made it way harder for them to pinpoint a time.  
“What for?” Murphy asked in the same low voice with a sparkle in his eyes. “I enjoyed that a lot and judging by your reaction so did you.”  
“Yeah, but look at that…” She gestured towards their friends and noticed the only one not talking was Bellamy, his brown eyes still resting on them. “I think that pretty much blew our cover.”  
“Oh please, they are always spectaculating, let them have their fun. You said yourself Echo had basically bets running when this would happen.”

There were times when she believed Octavia had super senses and this was one of those times.  
“Bets! Let’s bet, come on, what do you all think when did it happen?”  
“I say the Fourth of July party three years ago.” Harper’s voice came from the kitchen. “And I still need some help.”  
Murphy and Raven quickly disappeared in the kitchen to help her out, and returned to the table with plates in their hands.  
“So, since you all plan to make money off of us, can I join in?” Murphy asked with a smirk as he sat down.  
“No way, you know the answer!”  
“It was worth a try.”  
Finally almost everyone submitted their guesses.  
“So that’s almost everyone, I only needed a guess from Bellamy and Echo. Since we all agreed Murphy and Raven can’t join in, since that’s not fair.” Octavia was waving a piece of paper.  
“Is it an option to not join?” Bellamy asked and his sister shrugged.  
“If you want to miss out, then sure.”  
“I will think about mine a bit longer.” Echo said and her gaze met Raven’s who just sighed. 

For a bit it was all forgotten as they started to eat and other conversations came up.  
“What do you think, should we let Echo win?” Murphy leaned a bit closer so only Raven could hear him. “We might be able to get in on that profit that way.”  
He winked and Raven rolled her eyes but she smiled too. Meanwhile Jasper went to the bathroom and not much later Monty got up to grab something from the kitchen. It seemed Octavia was just waiting for the moment, then she didn’t miss when they crossed paths under the mistletoe.  
“You know the rules!”

After dinner Octavia helped Harper with the dishes and Raven and Murphy waved Echo over to their end of the table to tell her she could put her bet on the actual date.  
“They only excluded us and not anyone else who knows, so that’s their mistake.” Murphy explained with a grin and he was enjoying it way too much.  
Echo got excited calling for Octavia and once again, they met under the mistletoe. Monty’s and Jasper’s voices came synchronized as they yelled ‘ _mistletoe_ ’.  
They were later chilling on and around the couch, when Murphy grabbed the piece of paper from Octavia.  
“Alright, let me see that list.”  
Raven was sitting in one of the armchairs, her legs tucked underneath her and Murphy was sitting on the ground leaning against the armchair, so she could easily peek over his shoulders. She pointed at one of the dates.  
“Nah, Finn and I were still dating back then.”  
A bit further down the list Murphy shook his head. “I wasn’t even at that party.” It seemed they all expected them to reveal the correct date, but Murphy just handed the list back to Octavia. “There are still a couple eligible guesses on it, tho. Although I’m surprised you all seem to believe this wasn’t our first kiss.”  
“If you’re all wrong, do we get the money?” Raven asked as she stretched. With Murphy being so nonchalant about the whole thing and having him physically so close to herself made her more relaxed too.  
“I suppose that’s fair.” Jasper nodded after thinking about it for a couple seconds.

The night went on a bit longer and the mistletoe claimed a few more victims. After they got very aware of the spot, Jasper started to move it around more. Everyone got caught underneath it at least once and so there were kisses shared between Clarke and Jackson, Monty and Raven, Murphy and Octavia, Lincoln and Maya, Jasper and Harper, Lincoln and Harper, Bellamy and Echo (which was only a bit awkward), Miller and Echo, Bellamy and Jasper, Octavia and Harper and even Echo and Clarke. There was almost a kiss between Raven and Bellamy, but Murphy pulled her away just in time without anyone noticing. Anyone but Bellamy, who just winked at them both and left with a smile. They didn’t need to say it out loud, the gaze they shared revealed they both think he knows.

Eventually they all got dressed and got on their way to go home. The walk to Murphy’s apartment was shorter - not by much, but it was cold outside so it was reason enough to settle on his place for the night. Once they were inside Raven finally worked up the courage to ask what has been on her mind.  
“Why did you pull me away? From Bellamy, I mean.”  
“I thought it’s obvious.” He said with genuine surprise in his eyes. “I didn’t want you to kiss him.”  
“Well yeah, but why? I kissed Monty too…”  
“I was unfortunately not close enough to intervene with that one.” He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “But Monty and you also don’t share the same type of history as you and Bellamy do.”  
“Oh.” She almost forgot she told Murphy about that night. It made sense since she basically told him everything, but sometimes even she forgot about it. It was so long ago, it meant basically nothing and Bellamy has been such a good friend, she couldn’t think of him any other way. They were standing in the kitchen as Raven was pouring herself orange juice, now staring at her glass as it dawned on her.

Murphy came up behind her, placing both of his hands on the working surface, basically trapping Raven between his body and the counter.  
“Look, Raven, I know we said we’re doing this at our own terms and just see where it takes us, which I’m still fine with, but I have to be honest with you. I try my best to not do anything to pressure you, basically leaving the pace up to you and what you’re comfortable with. I was damn glad about that mistletoe tonight, because I really wanted to kiss you again.” He paused for a bit, but not long enough for her to be able to interrupt him. “Seeing you kiss Monty was already bad enough, I didn’t want to see you kiss anyone else. I- I want to be the only one you kiss.”  
His last words became a whisper and Raven almost wasn’t sure if he actually said them or if it was just her imagination.  
“I didn’t like you kissing Octavia either.” She whispered back.  
“Are you jealous, Reyes?” There was no need to turn around to see the grin on his lips, she could hear it. But she still turned, looking up into his blue eyes.  
“I suppose we both are, yeah.” The woman closed her eyes for a few seconds, taking a deep breath. “Tonight was.... Eventful. But it helped me to realize a few things. And not just that apparently I don’t want you to kiss anyone else either…” There was a spark in his eyes, and his body tensed up ever so slightly. “Until tonight I wasn’t aware just how much I wanted to kiss you again. Or I guess a part of me was aware, just subconsciously. It has been pretty clear I just ignored the signs. We spent every night together, you make me so happy and I miss you when I’m not with you. I enjoy being with you, _I want to be with you._ ”  
“Are you saying....” There was hope in his voice even if he tried to hold it back. It was something he had been waiting for so long and he didn’t want to get his hope up too high now just to be crushed.  
“I think I am.”  
He cupped her face in both of his hands, pulling her into a kiss that was just as amazing as the other ones they shared. Expect this time her fears and her doubts didn’t hold her back. She was exactly where she was supposed to be, with him. It took her a bit to realize that, but all signs pointed at it.


	21. December 21st - Is Something Burning?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi, hello and hey! First of all, I just wanted to thank everyone who has been sticking around and came so far. I feel like I don't say it enough how much I appreciate each and every one of you who is reading this silly fic. Today's chapter is on the funnier side - hope you still enjoy it. ;)

Raven woke up with a smile on her lips. She felt immediately better, just knowing Murphy was next to her and nothing was weighing her down anymore. It has been a while since she opened up to someone in this way, or even just the possibility. She has almost forgotten how good it felt to just be happy without all the fear and doubts resting on her shoulders. There was still the question when and how they would tell their friends, but right then and there they didn’t want to think about it, because nothing mattered as much as just the two of them.

“Good morning, sunshine.” Murphy greeted her with a big grin.  
“Eww, cheesy.” She chuckled and snuggled up to him.  
He seemed happier too, which just made her heart beat faster. With him being her best friend, she always just wanted the best for him and hoped he would be happy. So seeing him like that would have been enough, but knowing that she was the reason for his happiness? That made it just so much better.

Neither one of them wanted to get out of bed, so they ended up just laying there and talking for a while. At least until Murphy got out of bed leaving her alone and cold.  
“Oh don’t give me those puppy eyes. I would much rather stay too, but are still some things I need to get done.” Raven let out a little frustrated sigh, then she knew he was right, but that didn’t make it any better. “You can stay if you want to, I should be back in a couple of hours.” Raven was sitting in bed, still under the cover, and watched him get ready. He walked up to her and kissed her before he crossed the room. At the door he stopped and looked back at her.  
“And by the way, putting on clothes is optional.” He winked at her and left. She slept in one of his shirts and Raven wasn’t one bit surprised he wouldn’t mind if she didn’t put on more clothes.

After he left there was no point staying in bed any longer, so finally she got up too. Her reflection in the mirror caught her eyes and with a smile she walked over to Murphy’s closet to find some warm socks and to borrow a sweater. That should keep her warm and still leave him satisfied when he came back. The woman made herself coffee and turned on the TV to channel surf while she was drinking her beverage. Murphy must have watched one of the cooking channels last, then even before she turned around a woman’s voice explained how to chop the vegetables the right way.  
“Jeez, she makes it sound like rocket science.” Although she rolled her eyes, eventually her curiosity peaked, then she didn’t turn it off or change the channels. She never understood why people watched cooking shows - expect _Nailed It!_ because everyone on that show was a disaster and she could very much relate to that in some ways. But yet here she was watching and feeling almost hypnotized.  
Three meals later she was thinking she could do that too. Fortunately Murphy’s TV had the option to pause and rewind. So she went back to the beginning and disappeared in the kitchen to see if all the ingredients needed were there. After that she watched the whole thing again, before rewinding to the beginning.  
“Yeah, I can definitely make that.”

With confidence she walked into the kitchen, getting everything she would need out. She was fairly familiar with Murphy’s kitchen, as she often sat on the counter and watched him cook. It was a casual Sunday for them, when they didn’t have other plans, just hanging out at his place, talking and Raven chilling while he was cooking. And now it made finding everything so much easier. After she felt she was prepared enough, she started the video again and tried to follow along. Just to soon realize she couldn’t even go that fast and had to pause again so she could catch up. 

For the first twenty minutes her confidence was still on top of things and everything was going quite well. Or so she thought. So much so, that she even dared to daydream a bit about Murphy’s reaction when she would expect him with a home cooked meal. Made by her. Raven Reyes. That would certainly be a surprise and she couldn’t wait to see his face. But then things took a turn quickly. In one of the pots the sauce was cooking, but it quickly rose and ran over the edges, she panicked and tried to pull it from the heat, but that led to an even bigger catastrophe, with the sauce now running directly over the heated surface and Raven burning her fingers. Meanwhile on the other spot, the water was boiling too, getting more aggressive about it with every passing second. Raven tried to grab a cloth so she could grab the pot, but also trying to clean up the mess she made. She grabbed the box of pasta to put in the water, but she slipped and emptied the whole package. It was definitely more than what she needed. But that’s a problem she would have to worry about later. Especially since she totally forgot about the over - which she accidentally set way too high - and now smoke was rising.  
“Oh shit, oh fuck fuck fuck.”

Her first instinct was to open the window, then she grabbed one of the clothes and tried to fan out the smoke, turning the oven off and opening the door. Murphy was always joking about her burning down the kitchen when she was cooking, but right now she was very much on the verge of burning down his kitchen. She was so distracted that she didn’t even hear the keys turning in the lock and the door closing.  
“Raven? Is something burning?” He appeared in the kitchen door looking very confused. “What’s happening.”  
The woman turned around to look at him, with guilt in her eyes. “I tried to cook.” She mumbled. It took a few seconds but Murphy bursted out into laughter. “Don’t laugh! I- I wanted to surprise you.”  
“Well you did, although I assume this is not the surprise you planned.” He was still chuckling and she couldn’t help that her eyes filled up with tears, mostly due to frustration.  
“Oh no.” He stepped up to her, pulling her into his arms and kissing her temple.  
“The woman on the cooking channel made it seem so easy. She didn’t say anything about smoking ovens.”  
“That’s probably because they are not supposed to smoke.” Raven could still hear in his voice just how entertained he was, but he tried his best.

Stepping back he cupped her face in his hands and wiped away the tears. “Should we see if we can fix it?”  
“I don’t think there is much to fix… It would be more appropriate to say, let’s see if we can fix your kitchen:”  
He looked around and nodded, but obviously he didn’t seem to think the damage was that bad, then he didn’t seem very worried at all.  
“Just out of curiosity, were we expecting someone for dinner or is all the pasta for us?”  
“Okay, that one is not on me. Blame gravity.” She shrugged a bit and raised her hands with palms up.

With him there and taking over the control, they managed to clean up the kitchen quite fast and he even managed to save some of the food and was able to use it. He rolled up his sleeves and his gaze returned to Raven, mustering her from head to toe.  
“Hey, at least somehow you managed to not splash any of the food on yourself. That’s an achievement.”  
“Are you mocking me?”  
“In that outfit? Never.” His smirk returned as he grabbed her hand, pulling her to him. His lips touched hers and just like that all her frustration was out of the window and she felt relaxed again. She returned the kiss, her lips hungry for more. Her arms around his neck and his hands on her hips, they both tried to pull the other closer. He picked her up, with ease, and set her down on the counter.  
“Don’t forget where we were. Let me fix dinner and then we can continue.” His voice was low and husky and Raven could feel the blood that rushed to her cheeks.

She watched him move around the kitchen and decided that out of the two people she watched cooking today, she definitely enjoyed this view better.  
“If you want to, we could cook something together, just don’t try it alone again.”  
“Believe me, I don’t try to. Actual rocket science is easier than this.”  
It didn’t take much longer and dinner was ready. They sat down at the dining table and enjoyed it with a glass of wine. Murphy also demanded an in depth story about how she decided to cook and Raven was sure it was a story he wouldn’t let go for the next couple of years - at least. When they were done he got up, taking both of their plates back to the kitchen.  
“Hope you liked it, then with the amount of pasta we have, we’ll be eating this for a couple more days.”

Raven followed with the glasses and the bottle and the wine. “What I’m hearing is you saying I don’t have to try to cook for a couple more days.” They both chuckled and finished the dishes and put everything back at its place.  
After that he kept true to his promise and picked up - quite literally - right where they left off before.


	22. December 22rd - Secret Santas

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alrighty, this chapter... I was kinda looking forward to, but I also had so many ideas, that were all conflicting each other, so it was hard to decide which path to go. Which is why today's chapter is a bit later than usually. (Yesterday's was a bit later too, but that happened because I was painting and I totally forgot the time... Oops.) However overall I'm quite happy with how this turned out. After this we only have three chapters left. And I still have some plans... So enjoy this one and I'll hopefully see you tomorrow! :)

Since it was Saturday they both just decided to have a relaxing day. For most of the day they didn’t need to be anywhere and they didn’t need to cook either - which still made Murphy chuckle - so it was basically begging to be a lazy day. They were snuggled up on the couch watching a movie when Raven’s phone lit up with a new notification. It was Echo texting her. The woman already braced herself for a storm of questions which she was trying so hard to avoid these past couple days. However it didn’t go the way she expected.

_> and excited about tonight’s secret santa?  
>oh fuck!  
>let me guess, you forgot?  
>maybe…  
>jeez Raven, who did you get?  
and i seriously hope it’s not me  
>sorry, gotta go! see you later_

She put her phone away and turned to Murphy, who was already watching her in a curious manner.  
“Sorry, there is this thing I need to take care of, it shouldn’t take long, but it definitely needs to happen for Christmas, so…”  
“You’re preparing something for Christmas? Interesting.”  
“It’s not for Christmas, I just needed it before Christmas.”  
“Do you want me to come with you? I can help.”  
“No! I mean, no need for that. Just enjoy your Saturday and I’ll see you later at Monty’s and Harper’s?”  
He seemed slightly confused, but nodded when Raven leaned in to kiss him, before grabbing her coat and disappearing.

So much was happening in the past two weeks that she totally forgot about the Secret Santas until Echo reminded her. It was another one of those Christmas things that the others managed to get her involved with. In fact she didn’t want to feel left out and it was nice to give her friends a present. Everyone got to pull a name out of a hat late November and they basically had enough time for presents. It was just that Raven was completely distracted by her emotional chaos and the whole thing with Murphy. It also didn’t help one bit that she pulled his name. That was one of the reasons why she didn’t already have a present, she wanted to get him the most amazing gift, and she truly believed she still had time to find it, not counting on forgetting it. But now with everything changed she felt there was even more at stake to get him the perfect present. How was she supposed to find it in one afternoon? Damn.

Without much of an actual plan she was walking from store to store just hoping she would find something. Something that was good enough. It wasn’t like there was nothing she could have given him, picking a present for Murphy wasn’t the issue, the real issue was finding him the best present she could get him. She left one store after another, each one of them empty handed and it was getting dark outside. This was slowly turning into a big disaster. At this point she had two choices, settle for something rather mediocre or keep looking for the perfect present, but show up tonight without one. She knew she could just get something stupid now and then gift him the much better present once she found it, but she really didn’t want to do that. A part of her knew whatever she gave Murphy now, he would still say he is happy with it and didn’t need another present and she would eventually give up looking. 

With a sigh she accepted her defeat today, and turned around to walk home and change into other clothes. Although she was still excited seeing her friends, as this would be the last time they all came together until after Christmas, however she felt guilty about forgetting the present and that clouded her excitement. The woman just walked into her apartment when her phone rang.  
“Hey.”  
“Hey, did you manage to get everything?” Murphy’s voice came from the other end of the line.  
“Unfortunately not.”  
“Damn. Are you sure I can’t help?”  
“No, not with this one…”  
“So secretive today. Alright, so do you want me to pick you up or do you want to go separately?”  
“Are you asking me if we’re telling our friends today?”  
“Hm… maybe. But only if you want to. I mean I can still pick you up and we don’t tell them anything if you feel more comfortable with that.”  
“How fast can you be here?”  
“I’m on my way.” Was it possible to hear a smirk through the phone? Because she could have sworn she did.

She put on one of her most comfortable sweaters and decided to go with a skirt, as she knew most of her friends would be dressed festive. It wasn’t something they explicitly agreed on, it just sorta happened over the years. She was just putting on her warm socks when the keys turned in the lock, announcing Murphy’s arrival. Still adjusting her socks she hopped into the living room to greet him with a big smile. There it was again, that spark in his eyes, the one that was reserved for her and whenever he looked at her. The one that made her knees go weak, when he paired it with his smirk. He was wearing a knitted sweater and dark jeans with his boots. And looked absolutely amazing, in Raven’s opinion. But then again, he usually did. It was something she was very well aware of even when they were just friends.  
“You look good.” She said with a smile, walking over to him and planting a kiss on his cheeks.  
“I was about to say the same.” He placed a finger under her chin and turned her head to give her a kiss on the lips. “Ready to go?”  
“Just need to put on shoes and then I’m.”

While she was slipping into her favorite boots he disappeared in her bedroom leaving his backpack in there. So apparently they would spend the evening at her place. The amount of communication they had between each other without words already annoyed their friends from time to time and she was sure it wouldn’t get any better from now on. Good thing they both enjoyed to annoy their friends.

They arrived at Monty’s and Harper’s together, something no one even questioned, then there was nothing weird about it. They sat down next to each other on the couch, which still didn’t alert anyone, then so far they were acting as usual. They shared a glance and Murphy took her hand. As it turned out, she has been stressing over basically nothing at the Christmas concert, then still, no one noticed. Or they just didn’t think it was weird. Raven had to admit, she probably overreacted because she knew the truth, but in reality it was normal for her and Murphy to just randomly cuddle up when they were watching movies or just chilling together. She laced her fingers with his and they both got engaged in conversations with their friends. 

Once everyone arrived, they started to exchange gifts and Raven felt nervous again, biting her lips. Everyone looked so happy with their gifts and she knew Murphy will be happy with his too, once she gets it, but there was still the awkwardness of her not giving him anything here and now. The whole time she hoped whoever pulled her name forgot it too, then that would be only fair, but so far no one did.  
“Alright, who pulled Raven?” Monty asked, looking around in the circle. Some of them were already sitting there admiring their new gifts, the space between them filled with wrapping paper. And in Jasper’s case he himself was covered in glitter too. Octavia pulled his name and she couldn’t help but glitterbomb him. In her own words, it was the extra gift.  
“It was me.” The voice came from next to her. _Oh no, no no no!_ Of course it had to be Murphy who pulled her name, of course he had something for her and she forgot the whole Secret Santa thing.

He placed the wrapped package in her laps and it was heavier than it looked.  
“I initially got you something different, but now I feel like this is a better present.” Her hands were shaking a bit as she unwrapped the gift. It was a snow globe, with a cabin inside surrounded by trees. In front of the cabin there was even a tiny snowman. The cabin looked a lot like the Clarke’s cabin where they spent that weekend. Where they first kissed. “It plays music too. And I made sure it’s all just winter themed and nothing Christmas-y.”  
She looked up to him, with her eyes still wide with surprise. This was one of the best presents she has ever gotten and there was so much meaning behind it. It must have taken forever to find one that fit so perfectly.  
“This is… perfect. Thank you so much.” She placed the snow globe carefully back in the box on her lap, so it couldn’t fall down and hugged him tight.  
“You’re very welcome.” He chuckled and his hand rested on her back as he hugged her back.  
“Oh god, I feel terrible.”  
“That’s not the reaction I expected to get.”  
“No, no! It’s this present that’s wrong.” She sighed and pulled back, looking at him. “You see, I actually pulled your name-”

“No way you guys pulled each other’s names. That’s hilarious.” Jasper chimed in with a laugh.  
“Yeah. Except I totally forgot. I’m so sorry, my mind was all over the place, because… well, you know why. And I tried to find the perfect gift but nothing was good enough and I- You’ll of course get a present, I just can’t give it to you today.”  
“Raven, you already gave me the best present.” He chuckled.  
Without hesitation he leaned in and kissed her. For the second time in two days in front of all their friends. Expect this time there was no mistletoe. Raven was sure she could hear a couple gasps, although she couldn’t tell who it was. His lips touched her so softly and yet left a fiery trace, leaving her wanting more as he pulled back.

She slowly opened her eyes and there was silence. Surprisingly it was Bellamy who spoke first. “Fucking finally.” Now all heads turned to him and he shrugged.  
“I didn’t realize you were rooting for them too.” Octavia blurted out.  
“There was no rooting needed. Even a blind person would have seen that this would happen sooner or later.”  
“Wait.” Monty turned back to Raven and Murphy. “So, who won the bet?”  
“That would be me.” Echo said before either one of them could even open their mouths. “So pay up.”  
“You knew!” Octavia pointed at Echo in an accusatory manner and then pointed at Raven and Murphy. “You told her but not me?”  
At this point it seemed like everyone was more hung up on the fact they told Echo and no one else, although Echo herself seemed upset too, that no one told her about the latest development.

In all that chaos Bellamy snuck up behind them, laying a hand on one of each of their shoulders.  
“It was about time. I’m glad you two are happy. But Murphy, don’t you dare to break her heart.” He looked at the other man in a way an older brother would look at his younger sister’s new boyfriend. It warmed Raven’s heart. But then he turned to look at her in a very similar way. “That goes for you two - no heart breaking.”  
“Believe me, man, I most certainly don’t have plans for that.” Murphy said, and while he was talking to Bellamy, his eyes rested on Raven. She smiled at him, before looking up at Bellamy.  
“You knew, didn’t you.”  
“I have been watching you for years - in a non-creepy way -, it was not hard to notice.”  
“Guess we weren’t as good at sneaking around as we thought.”

After many more questions finally Murphy and Raven decided to call it a night, they said their goodbyes to everyone and then went to her place. For a while they were cuddled up in bed, before falling asleep.  
Suddenly she woke up like she was hit by something and climbed out of bed, walking over to the big closet trying to reach the boxes on the shelf. Murphy turned on the nightlight on his side.  
“Raven? What are you doing? It’s the middle of the night.”  
“I know, I just.... Hold on.” She jumped to reach a box that was pushed to the back of the highest shelf. With a sigh Murphy got out of bed and walked over to take down the box, that was labeled as _old stuff_.  
“I adore you and all your weird quirks, but really? Three in the morning is not the best time to get rid of old junk.”  
“No, I’m not. It has to be here somewhere. Also, duly noted, you’re cranky when you don’t get your sleep.”  
“Fancy coming from you, Reyes. You’re not exactly a morning person either.” He yawned and sat down on the bed just watching her. He seemed to accept that was the best he could do right now.  
“Aha!” A few minutes later she pulled out something and handed it over to Murphy. “Merry Christmas!”  
It was a Christmas ornament that was a pigeon dressed as Santa Claus sitting on an ostrich.  
“It’s an ornament we had for a while. That one year my mom trashed the Christmas tree most of them broke, this was one of the few that survived. I kept it, I’m not even sure why… But you and your father had that tradition with the weird ornaments and I thought-”  
He laid a finger on her lips to shush her.  
“I love it. This is going on the tree!” He didn’t say it just to be polite, she could tell by the actual joy in his eyes. “I didn’t think you remembered that story… Dad would absolutely love this.”  
Raven put the box on the ground and climbed on the bed to hug Murphy from behind. It wasn’t her intention to make him sad, although she should have known bringing his father up around this time of the year would have that effect. He told her that story years ago and she knew how much it meant to him, that his father was a big part of why he loved Christmas so much. He put a hand on her arm and placed the ornament on the nightstand.  
“I’m fine.” He said.  
“I know.” She still didn’t let go of the hug.  
“Thank you.”  
“Always.”  
They stayed like that for a while before they both fell back asleep.


	23. December 23rd - Christmas Lights

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might forgot that I had a super busy day planned and had to do this one in a rush before I had to be in several meetings. But hey, I did it and I really hope it's not oozing the energy of me being in a rush. It's more of a chill chapter with cuteness sprinkled over it and honestly I expect tomorrow's to be pretty similar, but we'll see how that one goes. By now we all know that sometimes these chapters do what they want. Just a couple more words... Merry Christmas Eve Eve! ;) And enjoy the chapter! :)

Raven was more than happy that she decided to mute her phone last night, then when she looked at it in the morning there were a lot of messages. Clearly not everyone was satisfied with the answers her and Murphy have given yesterday. Especially Octavia and Echo wanted to know more  
“Everything alright?” Murphy asked, pulling her closer when he heard her sigh.  
“Yeah, I just need to go over to Echo’s later. The girls want answers.”  
“I feel like the celebrity couple of our group.” He chuckled. Raven turned around to face him with a big grin.  
“That’s because we are. We’re basically like a slow burn couple they have been rooting for for years.”  
“No pressure, right?”

After breakfast Raven got dressed, even though she really hoped to have just a lazy day, preferable in her PJs, but that was not an option anymore.  
“I will try to be quick, but no promises. Do you want to wait here? Or we could meet at your place later.”  
“I will just wait here. Might go for a walk, but I got my keys to let myself back in again.” He was sitting on the couch reading something on his phone , when he looked up at her. “Unless this is your subtle art of kicking me out.”  
“First of all, you got your own keys, so it would be pretty difficult to kick you out. But also, I most definitely don’t want to kick you out.”  
“Good, because I most definitely don’t want to be kicked out.” 

Not much later Raven was already ringing the doorbell to Echo’s place. She really didn’t expect to see her friends before Christmas anymore and yet here she was. This was the only way to satisfy their curiosity and since she didn’t want her phone to be blown up, she just accepted her fate. The brunette was aware she would find Octavia there too, however Harper and Clarke were a surprise. Once she was in the living room, Octavia handed her a glass of mimosa and when Raven raised her eyebrows she just shrugged.  
“We’re adults and tomorrow is Christmas, so no work.”  
“Good enough for me.” Raven took a sip of her drink and she sat down. Immediately all eyes were on her. “So… Let’s do this, I guess. What do you want to know?”

As it turned out, they wanted to know pretty much everything and for the next couple of hours they felt like teenagers all over again, talking about boys and giggling. While she very much enjoyed sneaking around with Murphy - even if that didn’t last for long - it was also nice to be able to talk about it with her friends and share her happiness. Besides, the most important thing was that she was with Murphy. And it seemed like everyone was genuinely happy for them - and no one was surprised. Which shocked Raven just a little bit. A couple glasses and several topics later Raven got another text message.

_> hey, let me know before you get here  
i have a surprise for you  
>oh god! you didn’t burn down my kitchen did you?  
>you’re mistaking me for you. _

When she looked up from her phone, once again all of her friend’s eyes were on her. “I think I should go.”  
“You just can’t wait to get back to Murphy. Wow, already dropping us for him.”  
“Hey, that’s not fair!”  
“I’m just kidding, go!” Octavia winked at her and Raven was sure she will have a good time making similar jokes the next few months. She made a mental note to prepare for it.

_> i’m on my way, should be there in like thirty  
>ok. see you in a bit! ;)_

The whole way back home she tried to guess what his surprise could be, but one guess was as good as the other. There was only one way to find it out for sure. She walked a bit faster, but careful to not slip on the ice. Stopping in front of her apartment door she hesitated, but then she pulled out her phone.

_> i’m here. coming in_

Just as she was about to push the keys in the lock, the door opened with an energetic swing and Murphy was standing in front of her with a grin. She realized he actually smiled a lot more lately. Was it all because of her?  
“Hi.” She said with a smirk.  
“Hey. A couple words before you come in. Don’t be mad. I wouldn’t have done it if I thought you would kill me, but still just to be on the safe side. Please remember how much you like me and my charming personality and this gorgeous face.”  
“Jeez Murphy, what did you do?”  
He took her hand and pulled her inside the apartment, closing the door behind her and leading her into the living room, gesturing around with his free hand. There were Christmas lights, basically everywhere, lighting up the whole room, making it seem almost like out of a fairy tale. He placed some other decorations too, like a few snowmen and a few trees. They were all Christmas decorations, but again more winter, than Christmas. He found a nice place for the snow globe on the bookshelf too and it was now playing music. Murphy must have just winded it up before she arrived. The last thing she noticed was the fake snow on the windows. He must have used one of those spray things. 

She was just standing there, looking at everything and trying to take it all in.  
“Are you plotting how to kill me right now?” He asked when she was still silent.  
“Murphy…”  
“Yeah?”  
“Why…?”  
“I know you’re not a fan of Christmas and you have all the reasons to not be, but while you were still very much a Grinch this year, it seemed like you’re warming up to it a bit and I guess I thought…” He pushed both of his hands in his pockets, shrugging a bit. “I thought maybe we could give it a try together. Maybe have our own traditions. The whole just you and me, our own terms, our own pace thing.”  
For a few long seconds she was standing there, just letting his words sink in, before she closed the gap between them, wrapping her arms around him.  
“I love it.”  
“You do?” He couldn’t cover up the surprise in his voice, but he laid his arms around her frame and rested his head on hers. “You know you don’t have to pretend.”  
“No, I’m not! I actually like it. It looks great.” She pushed herself away, taking her coat off and walking around in the room, taking in everything. “It will look great when it’s dark outside.”

His eyes followed her around and he watched her with a smile. Clearly he expected that she would put up a little more fight and braced himself for her reaction, but it turned out to be very different. Raven turned around with a smile and her eyes sparkling with joy.  
“You know what we should do?”  
“I don’t expect you will say getting a Christmas tree?”  
“No, but we can talk about that next year.” He smiled at those words, visibly happy that she was going so far as to think they would still be together next year. Raven didn’t even realize until the words came out of her mouth and there was no way to take it back or overthink it. It was so easy to say, then she absolutely expected it to be true. They didn’t even have a conversation yet about being official or exclusive, but there was also no need for it, then they both just knew it. “We should build a blanket fort and watch movies for the rest of the day.”  
And before he could say anything, she already disappeared into the bedroom to grab all blankets and pillows she could find. Murphy followed her chuckling to help carry everything. The rest of the day went as she was hoping it would. Just being lazy and snuggling up in comfortable clothes. Once it got dark the whole living room got lit up by all the Christmas lights and she was right - it looked absolutely magical.


	24. December 24th - Hot Chocolate

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Merry Christmas Eve, everyone! Today's chapter, just as I said yesterday, is just a lazy and chill chapter, perfect for today - at least I feel like it is. Hope you enjoy it and we'll see each other tomorrow for a last run!

They ended up falling asleep in the blanket fort they built and when they woke up hours later they decided it was comfortable enough to just stay there, instead of getting up and walking over to the bed. Waking up cuddling up in the blanket fort, while the Christmas lights were still on was kind of magical. They decided they would spend the day at Raven’s and go over to Murphy’s tomorrow. He even suggested he could cook, which eventually motivated them to get up and get dressed, so they could make a last minute grocery shopping.

The couple was already on the way back home, both of them carrying a bag, when it started to snow again.  
“It has been snowing a lot more this year than usual.” Murphy said looking up at the sky.  
“Looks like you might actually get your wish of a white Christmas.”  
“This year is turning out to be pretty good towards the end.” He leaned over and kissed her on the cheek, to which she replied with a chuckle.

Once they were inside again, they unpacked the grocery bags and Murphy started to prepare.  
“You gonna stick with your usual watching or do you want to help me?”  
“Aren’t you afraid I’m gonna burn it down?”  
“Well, there is the chance that could happen, but you would be under supervision.”  
For a few seconds she thought about it. “One condition, I can still be the taster.”  
“You got yourself a deal.”

Everything went much smoother now than when she was doing it all on her own. Much thanks to Murphy and him being such a good cook. Just as he promised, he kept an eye on her, so she didn’t even have the chance to mess up. He came up behind her, crossing his arms in front of her, pulling her into a hug.  
“You’re distracting me.” She mumbled and part of her wished he didn’t hear, then she definitely didn’t want him to let go.  
“Oh am I now? Then I definitely shouldn’t do this.” He leaned closer, placing small kisses on her neck.  
“You shouldn’t…. But you are.”  
“Hm, would you want me to stop? Or would you want me to do this?” He took the knife from her hand, placing it on the counter and turned her around to kiss her. It started out soft and gentle but then it quickly filled with more desire, his lips harder on hers. When she pulled away, Raven was gasping for air. 

He put on some music and then pulled her into a slow dance. She felt silly but at the same time also very happy.  
“I didn’t know I was signing up for slow dancing.”  
“There is a lot more you don’t know, Reyes. All the things we can explore together.” He took her hand and spun her around in the middle of the kitchen, her laughter filling up the place.  
“I’m looking forward to it.” Honestly, as long as he was by her side, she didn’t matter what they were doing.  
“So am I.” He stopped, planting a kiss on her forehead and they finished preparing dinner.

Once they ate they were just sitting on the couch for a bit, before Murphy got up to do the dishes. Raven offered to help him, but he told her to stay and he would take care of it.  
“Are you sure you don’t need help?” She kneeled on the couch looking over at the kitchen, when he was gone a bit longer than she expected him to be.  
“Very positive.”  
“You know I can’t set anything on fire by just doing the dishes, right?”  
She could hear his laugh coming from the kitchen, but there was no other reply.

A couple minutes later Murphy was back, with a hot chocolate in both hands, giving Raven one of them. It looked absolutely amazing and Raven got even more excited when she spotted the candy cane. He smirked when he saw the joy on her face.  
“Couldn’t let you ruin the surprise. Although I have to say it’s quite easy to make you happy.”  
“You know it’s you and not the hot chocolate.” She smiled at him when he sat down next to her. “You make me happy. You don’t even need to try, you just do...” She blushed a bit, saying those words. What she said was true, but it was different saying it out loud, even if they both knew it.  
The woman took a big sip from her hot chocolate and took the candy cane moving it around in her mug. She felt like Murphy went all out of his way, to make everything feel just perfect. And she wanted to give some of that back.

“Murphy?”  
“Hm?”  
“Do you want to watch a Christmas movie?”  
He almost choked on his hot chocolate, coughing a bit before turning to face her. “You want to do _what_?”  
“Watch a Christmas movie.”  
“I will say yes, before you can change your mind.”  
“I’m not changing my mind.”  
“Sure, I will just…” He took the remote control that was resting between them, already going through a catalog of movies, to see what they could watch. “Any preferences?”  
“Whatever you want.”  
“You’re giving me too much power, Reyes.”  
“Enjoy it, while you have it, Murphy.” They smirked at each other and finally Murphy settled on a movie.

With both hands around her mug, she cuddled up to Murphy and he laid an arm around her. This was something she could get absolutely used to. She kind of already was. It hasn’t been that long since they decided to not just be friends, but try the whole dating thing, but she was already more comfortable with him than anyone else before. Maybe it was due to their years long friendship or maybe it was simply just Murphy and his personality, but it worked for her.

Halfway through the movie her hot chocolate was gone, although by that time it wasn’t really hot anymore. Murphy looked at her empty mug and then at her.  
“Do you want another?” He asked, pointing at the mug she just put down on the coffee table.  
She shook her head and cuddled up more to him. “Maybe later.”  
Her eyes wandered from the TV to the window and although it was sprayed with all the fake snow, she could see that it was still snowing outside. At this point she hoped that his wish would come true and he would have a white Christmas. 

After the movie they both got up, making another round of hot chocolate and much to Murphy’s surprise, Raven suggested to watch another movie before they went to bed. She didn’t want to admit it out loud, but the movies were kind of fun, despite them being mainly about Christmas.  
“Is your heart growing two sizes, my little Grinch?” Murphy asked, holding her cheek, turning her head towards him and giving her a small kiss.  
The clock caught Raven’s eyes and it was just past midnight when they finished the second movie. A smile was forming on her lips.  
“Merry Christmas, Murphy.”  
“Merry Christmas, Reyes.”  
She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him. He didn’t hesitate to kiss her back, his hands holding her hips and pulling her onto his lap. Right there and then in that very moment she didn’t want it to ever end.


	25. December 25th - Christmas

When it was time to get dressed, she stood in front of her closet, trying to find something to wear for the day and pack something for the next couple of days. It was clear that they both agreed to spend their time together, so they have just been changing between their places, but it also involved always bringing change of clothes.  
“Hey, Murphy?”  
“Yeah?” He peeked his head inside the bedroom. “Need help to get dressed? I would very much like to help with the undressing part.” He grinned wide with a wink.  
“Not really, no. But how would you feel about some space in the closet. I mean for your clothes. I could clear a shelf for you… If you want to. It’s not- You don’t have to, if you-”  
He walked up to her and put a finger on her lips to shush her. “I would like that.”  
She smiled and nodded, before returning to the closet and picking clothes.

There was one piece that caught her eye and she knew immediately what she wanted to wear. The reorganization of the closet could wait. She quickly got dressed and put a few pieces in her backpack, before returning to Murphy.  
“Ready to go?” She asked.  
“Almost, I only need to pick up the ornament I got from you and then we can… go.” He stopped as he turned around and Raven caught his eyes. Or rather what she was wearing. “Are all your other clothes dirty? Did someone force you to do this?”  
“Well, you did a couple weeks ago, does that count?” She was wearing the grey Christmas sweater he had given her at the beginning of the month. It has been sitting there in her closet since that evening. It just felt appropriate to wear it today.  
“No, that absolutely doesn’t count. I have said this before, but I’m gonna say it again, you look good in it.”  
“Thank you.” She smirked, doing a little posing for him, with her hands on her hips and playing with her hair.  
Murphy chuckled and crossed the room in a few quick steps, pulling her close, and kissing her. The lights on her sweater lit up.  
“That was a lit kiss.”

When they got over to Murphy’s, the first thing he did was to hang the ornament Raven gave him on the tree. The tree was mostly decorated in blue and silver, with the expectations of a couple odd ornaments here and there - those he got with his dad and the ones he got since then in memory of his father. Then he disappeared for a while in the bedroom. Raven thought maybe all the memories of his dad and their Christmases resurfaced and he just needed to be alone for a bit, but eventually she decided to go and check up on him.  
“Is everything okay?”  
“Oh sorry, I didn’t think it would take this long. Come here.” He held a hand out for her and she walked over to take it, then he pointed at the closet. He cleared out some space for her. “I left that shirt you like to sleep in on your shelf. And one of my sweaters that you have been eyeing way too much.”  
“You know it’s no fun if you give it to me willingly and I can’t steal it.”  
“Oh in that case, I’m taking it back.”  
“Nah, it’s mine now.” She stopped him mid-movement and pulled him down for a kiss. “This is great.”

Everything seemed so much easier with Murphy. And so much happier. After all these years of friendship, knowing each other so well, their habits and all… Skipping the awkward state of dating happened just naturally. They both felt comfortable around each other, and when they weren’t together, they couldn’t wait to see the other again. That was one of the changes that came with them being together. Raven already looked forward to seeing Murphy before, but it was way different now. Then now there was another feeling added to the mix. Or rather, one of those feelings shifted in a different direction.

Murphy’s eyes were locked with Raven’s when he looked down at her and he looked at her like she was the sun or something. It made her blush, but also filled her heart with warmness. She knew Finn loved her, but he didn’t love her the way she wanted to be loved, the way she needed to be loved. The love they shared was very different from what was between her and Murphy. After what happened with Finn, she closed her heart for a long time, barely letting anyone close enough to be able to develop any type of deeper feelings. Murphy managed to sneak up on her over the many years and it still took her a long time to accept it and quit denying what couldn’t be denied. Not anymore.

“I love you, John.”  
Her words took him by surprise and it took him a couple seconds to fully realize what she just said, then it slowly sunk in. His surprise turned into happiness as he smiled, cupping her face between his hands.  
“I love you too, Raven:”  
He knew. He knew how much it took her to say those words, to even just feel that way. Murphy, more than anyone, was aware of the walls she has built up around herself, rooting in her trust issues that she developed thanks to her mother and the way things between her and Finn ended. And because he was aware of all that, he would never push her to do anything she didn’t want to and he was ready to wait for her, no matter how long it took. So it wasn’t the fact that she loved him that surprised Murphy, but much rather how easily it came over her lips.

Something she was surprised by too, but she didn’t regret it, then it was true. It hit her somewhat suddenly, but it was true. Raven knew she admired him and appreciated the time they spent together, she was aware of the deep and warm feelings he ignited in her, it just took her a while to realize what exactly it was. That it was not just the deep friendship they shared. She has loved him for years, as her best friend and while that love was still there, it also evolved into something else. She loved him not just as a friend, but as more. It was a kind of love she has not experienced before and she couldn’t help but wonder if maybe this is what soulmates were meant to be. She wasn’t sure but she would have plenty of time to explore, then she knew she didn’t want to be with anyone else but John Murphy.

A feeling he shared. Something he realized way before her, he just pushed it mostly aside until they kissed. When they were both available he dared to get his hopes up just a bit, but he never tried to come on too hard. There have been moments and sparks, but never as big and impactful as that kiss they first shared in the cabin. But then she ran away and after that they barely talked for a couple of days and he was ready to accept that yet another chance passed, while he would keep waiting for her to realize what was already clear to him - that he wanted to be with her. Or at least explore the possibility of them together. However it didn’t take him a lot to know she was it. She was the one he waited for and it was worth waiting for her.

“This is slowly turning out to be the best Christmas yet.” He said as his thumb brushed over her cheek.  
“Yeah? Because I’m starting to think Christmas is not that bad after all…”  
“Oh Reyes, did you really just say that?” He grinned at her.  
“I suppose you have to blame my boyfriend for that. He’s _really_ into Christmas and I suppose he infected me with it.”  
“Oh, your boyfriend, hm?”  
“Yeah, he’s a pretty great guy. I think you two would get along.”  
“Interesting, because you look a lot like my grumpy girlfriend.”  
“Grumpy?”  
“A grumpy genius.” He chuckled at her expression and kissed down to kiss her. “And I love her the way she is. No matter if she likes Christmas or not.”  
"I think she is warming up to it. Merry Christmas, John."  
"Merry Christmas, _love_."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright... we did it. Thank you so much for everyone, who has read this fanfic. I honestly appreciate each and every one of you. It has been a bumpy year and I really just hope this small fiction managed to bring a smile to a few people, spread a little joy. All the support I have received really helped me keep going, so honestly thank you for that. I hope you enjoyed it. I honestly don't know how to put everything I'm thinking and feeling right now, so really, just a last thank you! <3


End file.
